French president threatens to sue over report of affair

Share:

hollande, gayetFrench President Francois Hollande threatened on Friday to sue celebrity magazine Closer, complaining of breach of privacy after it alleged he was having an affair with actress Julie Gayet.

The weekly French tabloid, criticized in 2012 for publishing topless pictures of Kate Middleton, Britain’s Duchess of Cambridge, printed seven pages of photos of comings and goings outside a Paris apartment block to support its allegation.

“Francois Hollande greatly deplores the invasion of his privacy, to which he has a right as any other citizen does. He is studying what action, including legal action, to take following this publication,” a source in Hollande’s office said. The source did not directly deny the story, however.

In a statement later on Friday, Closer said that at the request of Gayet’s lawyer it would remove all reference to the alleged relationship from its website, but there was no mention of plans to pull the publication from newsstands.

While the French have long been indulgent of their leaders’ infidelities, the pictures were an unwelcome distraction for Hollande as he battles to revive the euro zone’s second largest economy and faces record low approval ratings in opinion polls.

According to Closer, movie actress Gayet, 41, is seen arriving at the apartment block in Paris’s upmarket eighth arrondissement late at night.

The pictures then show the arrival of a man resembling Hollande’s bodyguard. A second man – which Closer said was Hollande – then arrives on the back of a scooter. He is unidentifiable because he is wearing a black helmet.

Subsequent photos taken in the morning show the first man arriving with what Closer said was a bag of croissants, then the second man in a helmet emerging and jumping on the back of a scooter.

The woman resembling Gayet, who has acted in French films including the 2013 comedy “Quai d’Orsay” in which she plays a vampish diplomatic adviser in the foreign ministry, then comes out and heads down the street.

Gayet, a Socialist party supporter, openly backed Hollande during the 2012 presidential race, describing him in one filmed interview as “fantastic” and “really ready to listen”.

FRENCH UNFAZED

There was no comment from lawyers for Gayet, a mother of two. She filed a complaint for breach of privacy last March after rumors of an affair with Hollande became public.

Allies and foes of Hollande defended his right to privacy.

“For me this magazine is disgraceful, I have no interest in this,” said a 30-year-old Parisian communications sector worker who gave her name as Emmanuelle.

“It’s his private life. There are more important issues than this,” she said, reflecting the general lack of interest among passers-by in central Paris.

Marine Le Pen of the anti-immigrant National Front, normally a vocal Hollande critic, was also uninterested.

“As far as the president is concerned, as long as not a cent of public money was used … I believe that everybody has the right to the respect of their privacy,” she told i-Tele TV.

Hollande, 59, came to power in 2012 and according to polls is the most unpopular president in France’s modern history for his failure to tackle unemployment stuck at around 11 percent and a widespread sense that he lacks authority.

The Closer article overshadowed news of a surprise rebound in the French economy in late 2013, with the Bank of France estimating last-quarter growth at 0.5 percent and November industrial output beating analysts’ forecasts.

The timing could undermine the Socialist’s efforts at a New Year’s news conference next Tuesday to unveil a pro-business plan aimed at encouraging firms to hire more staff.

The president is also scheduled to travel to Rome later this month for an audience with the Pope.

Hollande is in a long-term relationship with ex-journalist Valerie Trierweiler, who has assumed the functions of France’s first lady. Her lawyer declined to comment.

He has four children from a previous relationship with Segolene Royal, a senior member of his Socialist Party and a 2007 presidential candidate. Royal announced their separation just after she lost the 2007 election to Nicolas Sarkozy.

French politicians have in the past been known to have affairs, with little impact on public opinion, most notably former Socialist President Francois Mitterrand, who had a daughter with his mistress.

The French public shrugged off Sarkozy’s complicated private life during his presidency. Divorced from his wife Cecilia in 2007, Sarkozy married singer and ex-model Carla Bruni after a lightning romance in February 2008.

Reuters

Share:

Comments

26 responses to “French president threatens to sue over report of affair”

  1. 5thDrawer Avatar

    Skill in bed has nothing to do with running a government.
    Best thing would be to find someone who can do both. :-))
    Magazines like Closer, and the accompanying paparrazi, exist only to get the bedroom scenes for the Voyeurs of the World. But they will ‘speculate’ when they can’t.
    Et, Viva la France. ๐Ÿ˜‰

    1. Hind Abyad Avatar
      Hind Abyad

      He’s soo unacractive ๐Ÿ™

      1. ...some guy Avatar
        …some guy

        You are too funny Hind , poor guy nobody want to shake his hand ๐Ÿ™ I kind of look like this dude only 3 inches shorter, hair completely abandoned ship, false teeth, wooden leg and budah like belly….are you still my friend? :)P

      2. 5thDrawer Avatar

        Politicking is such a chore โ€ฆ and the ‘staged shots’ take a time to set up.
        But everyone likes to smile for the camera โ€ฆ even the weird dude in the upper left. :-))

  2. 5thDrawer Avatar

    Skill in bed has nothing to do with running a government.
    Best thing would be to find someone who can do both. :-))
    Magazines like Closer, and the accompanying paparrazi, exist only to get the bedroom scenes for the Voyeurs of the World. But they will ‘speculate’ when they can’t.

    1. Hind Abyad Avatar
      Hind Abyad

      He’s soo unacractive ๐Ÿ™

      1. You are too funny Hind , poor guy nobody want to shake his hand ๐Ÿ™ I kind of look like this dude only 3 inches shorter, hair completely abandoned ship, false teeth, wooden leg and budah like belly….are you still my friend? :)P

      2. 5thDrawer Avatar

        Politicking is such a chore โ€ฆ and the ‘staged shots’ take a time to set up.
        But everyone likes to smile for the camera โ€ฆ. :-))

  3. Yeap Vive La france

  4. Yeap Vive La france

  5. She’s a little hotie, I wouldn’t mind her.

    1. ...some guy Avatar
      …some guy

      MINE MINE MINE !! i GOT I got here first :)P hope thing are warming up a little in your neck of the woods.

      1. Yeah it’s a bombing 30 deg F up from -1 on Tuesday. I guess you guys got hit too. This is Penguin not human weather. Get this my heating bill was $650 last month, I just can’t imagine what it would be this month. I guess we’re indirectly financing mid east wars …:)

        1. 5thDrawer Avatar

          30 sounds nice โ€ฆ. minus 6 was ‘crisp’ in the sun. And you need insulation โ€ฆ..

        2. ...some guy Avatar
          …some guy

          $650 is very steep bro, I don’t know how he does it but the prophetttt drives around new York shorts and t shirt in this weather, and here I thought he is from the south, go figure it must be the long beard that keeps him warm :)P

          1. Hind Abyad Avatar
            Hind Abyad

            Spicy friend hein?

          2. Prophettttt Avatar
            Prophettttt

            Geo, Just read it. You were kidding not;You did tell the entire world how crazy I must have looked coming out of my car and walking into a bank with my shorts and flip flops ,lol

  6. She’s a little hotie, I wouldn’t mind her.

    1. MINE MINE MINE !! i GOT I got here first :)P hope thing are warming up a little in your neck of the woods.

      1. Yeah it’s a bombing 30 deg F up from -1 on Tuesday. I guess you guys got hit too. This is Penguin not human weather. Get this my heating bill was $650 last month, I just can’t imagine what it would be this month. I guess we’re indirectly financing mid east wars …:)

        1. 5thDrawer Avatar

          30 sounds nice โ€ฆ. minus 6 was ‘crisp’ in the sun. And you need insulation โ€ฆ..

        2. $650 is very steep bro, I don’t know how he does it but the prophetttt drives around new York shorts and t shirt in this weather, and here I thought he is from the south, go figure it must be the long beard that keeps him warm :)P

          1. Hind Abyad Avatar
            Hind Abyad

            Spicy friend hein?

          2. Prophettttt Avatar
            Prophettttt

            Geo, Just read it. You were kidding not;You did tell the entire world how crazy I must have looked coming out of my car and walking into a bank with my shorts and flip flops ,lol

  7. Right to privacy kind of ends when those with cameras record/photograph in public.

  8. Right to privacy kind of ends when those with cameras record/photograph in public.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *