Gaffe-prone former Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi has joked about the nearly 25-year age gap between French President Emmanuel Macron and his older wife, calling her the leader’s “beautiful mum.”

“We have a 39-year-old guy [as French president] with, however, good work experiences, and, above all, with a beautiful mum who has taken him by the arm ever since he was a boy,” Berlusconi said late Monday during a campaign event in Monza, near Milan.

Brigitte Macron is 64, while the French president is 39.

They started an affair when she was Macron’s high school teacher.

Berlusconi’s girlfriend Francesca Pascale is 49 years his junior.

The former premier was also tried for soliciting sex from a minor in the so-called bunga bunga affair, but was acquitted for lack of evidence.

Berlusconi may however face another trial on charges of bribing defence witnesses in the case.