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French President Sarkozy steps out with ex-supermodel Bruni
2007-12-17
French newspapers reported Monday that President Nicolas Sarkozy is romancing supermodel-turned-pop singer Carla Bruni, just two months after his divorce. Sarkozy, 52, and Bruni, 38, were photographed together at the Disneyland theme park near Paris on Saturday. They made little apparent attempt to hide the fact that they were there together, though none of the photos showed them any closer than shoulder-to-shoulder. The Elysee Palace would not comment to AFP on the pictures. But L'Express magazine editor Christophe Barbier told French television that Bruni -- who has in the past dated rock stars Mick Jagger and Eric Clapton -- confirmed to him that she is romantically involved with Sarkozy. "She told me that the publicity surrounding this story did not bother her and that from now on, it would become an affair, a public love story," he told LCI television. "We must now wait and see how far the president will go in presenting Carla Bruni officially" as his companion, Barbier added. Bruni, who will be 39 on Sunday, was born in Italy and is the heiress to a tyre manufacturing fortune. An elegant brunette, she was a top fashion model before turning to pop music. She has a young son from a marriage to a philosopher. Sarkozy has two sons from his first marriage and one son from his 11-year marriage to Cecilia Sarkozy, which ended in a much publicised divorce in October. He is the first French president to divorce while in office. "Carla Bruni and Sarkozy are out in the open," wrote the popular Le Parisien newspaper on its front page that featured one of the photos of the couple. The rightwing newspaper Le Figaro ran a photo of Bruni under the headline "Carla Bruni, the president's companion". Le Figaro said "the presence of Sarkozy and Carla Bruni in such a public place suggests that they do not intend to specifically hide themselves." The leftwing Liberation wrote that the couple had brought their "fairy tale" romance to Disneyland. L'Express said about 10 photographers were present at the park to take the pictures and that the couple seemed "very much at ease" with the attention paid to them. The photos are to be published this week in the popular celebrity magazines Closer, Paris Match and Point de Vue, which splashed the headline: "Carla Bruni: the president's queen of hearts." "Nicolas Sarkozy and Carla Bruni wanted their relationship to be known, otherwise I do not see why they would have gone to EuroDisney to watch the Mickey Mouse parade," said Point de Vue editor Colombe Pringle. Pringle told France Info radio she considered that that the photos "were not stolen but in fact given, in that this was a way to make something official." French politicians declined to be drawn into the debate on president's romantic life. Socialist Party leader Francois Hollande, who went through a highly public separation from presidential candidate Segolene Royal, said the couple had a right to privacy. "It's their life. Either they decided to come out as a couple in public, and I think it's probably the case, or they have a right to have their privacy protected," said Hollande. Bruni released her first pop album "Quelqu'un M'a Dit" (Someone Told Me) in 2004 and it was a suprise hit. This year's follow-up "No Promises" -- consisting of segments of English poetry set to music -- was less successful.
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