Love In The Public Eye!

When reports surfaced last fortnight of Carla Bruni and Nicolas Sarkozy, both having affairs — she with singer Benjamin Biolay; he with his stylish ecology minister, Chantal Jouanno, few found it amusing. After all, if one couldn’t decipher reasons that brought the two together (other than perhaps a shared aversion for monogamy), there needn’t have been reasons to make them drift apart. However, the conscious indiscretion that the Sarkozy- Bruni romance epitomises makes it the most bohemian one ever that involved a politician of his stature.

Consider this: Barely 10 months ago the couple flirted brazenly during a video interview, making it the first time that a French president and his first lady were filmed sharing such private moments in the Elysee Palace. In the interview, the 41-year-old Mrs Bruni-Sarkozy continually stroked her 54-year-old husband’s hand and even patted his bottom.

The diminutive president, in turn, tried to look as much a President as he could, as he perched on the edge of an armchair, with his feet swinging above the ground.

After the intimate indulgence, the wife whispered “Bon courage, chou chou”, which means “Be brave, my little darling”.

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