Italian Premier Silvio Berlusconi promised Tuesday to resign after parliament passes economic reforms demanded by the European Union. NBC's Richard Engel reports from Rome.

“Sometimes,” he specified, “the girls would follow me to the house theater room,” a room formerly used by his sons as a private discotheque.

“Women are exhibitionists by nature,” Berlusconi said. “And if they work in show business, they are even more exhibitionists. They like putting up shows and they decided to compete in a burlesque show.”

When asked if he was a judge of the show, he replied: “No, but I watched with interest. I had a lot of fun, and will continue to have fun.”

(See video of Berlusconi’s comments to journalists outside the courtroom. He’s speaking in Italian).

And there is the irony of it all.

While the admission by any current or former prime minister of a European country that they held a burlesque contest with half-naked women dressed as nuns and policemen would be enough to end their political career shamefully, Berlusconi seems somehow different. His list of alleged felonies, including sex scandals, tax frauds and abuse of office, has now become so long that confessing to organizing a strippers competition, at the end of the day, seems not so bad.

The trial continues, and with more revelations expected from witnesses, the former prime minister’s private life will soon be stripped naked. Nothing more appropriate, for a man dubbed Burlesconi.