I apologize to those of you who were interested in more coverage of Nicolas Sarkozy and Carla Bruni’s newborn baby girl, Giulia. I thought I was the only one really interested in Carla’s pregnancy, and most of you were totally meh on the birth. I’m happy for them, though, and it’s exciting from a historical standpoint – this is the first time in France’s history that a First Lady has given birth while her husband is in office (the last time a French leader had a baby was… Napoleon!).

Anyway, these are new photos of Carla, Pres. Sarko and baby Giulia at La Lanterne Park in Versailles today. Even though Carla made it sound like she wanted to keep everything about the baby under wraps, I suspected that she would end up doing some of these happy-looking photo ops with the new baby. After all, Sarko is running for re-election, correct? So it’s helpful, at least with my very gauche, American way of viewing politics – if an American president and first lady had a baby while they were in the White House, it would help them out politically. They would look young and vital and interesting, and women would support the first family even more. Do you think it will be the same in France?

Would you like to know more about Giulia? She weighed seven-and-a-half pounds when she was born 12 days ago. She was born in Paris, and it seems like Sarko wasn’t there for a great deal of the labor. After stopping by the hospital, Sarko then left and continued with business of state, which prompted some criticism that he was basically abandoning Carla and their baby. Carla was also the one to make all of the birth announcement stuff, but on her website, not Sarko’s. Carla wrote: “I am deeply touched by the many messages of congratulations that I have received since the birth of our daughter. [We offer the] warmest thanks to all those of you who sent us these tokens of your kindness.”

Oh, and after all of that talk about how much Sarko and Carla wanted a boy and how she was expecting a boy and BOY BOY BOY, I’m so glad they got a girl. And look on the bright side… Carla is probably all liquored up right now. She’s probably smoking some cigs too.

Photos courtesy of WENN.

Last we heard from Carla Bruni-Sarkozy, it was late May and she had confirmed her pregnancy. Sources claimed that Carla was four months along at the time, although I suspected she was further along. That would make her about five and a half months in these new photos, where you can see Carla and her husband President Sarkozy on a “babymoon” in the South of France. I’m glad that Carla seems to be having such a healthy pregnancy, and I have to say, I think she looks better with the pregnancy weight. Sarko looks content too – they both seem like they’re not feeling too stressed out. Meanwhile, apparently the French papers are saying that Carla is knocked up with TWINS?!? It would explain why she looks much further along than they’re claiming.

With their lives about to be turned upside down by the arrival of twins in the autumn, Carla Bruni Sarkozy and French President Nicolas Sarkozy took time out for what was no doubt a much-needed break.

Strolling in the sunshine in Fort de Brégancon off the Mediterranean coast of southern France – the official Presidential retreat – the mellow duo were a world away from the bustle of Paris, and their relaxed demeanours – and even more relaxed dress code – proved they were enjoying their time out.

Wearing a pretty white kaftan and straw hat, Carla, 43, whose slim model figure remains unchanged but for her neat bump, strolled happily with her husband, who had swopped his usual grey suits for a breezy outfit of cotton shirt, shorts and loafers.

Although Carla Bruni is yet to speak publicly of her pregnancy, the rumours that swirled at the first signs of an emerging baby bump need no confirmation now. Now six months into her pregnancy, there is no disguising that there is a baby on the way – or two, if reports from French magazines are to be believed.

Unfortunately for 53-year-old Mr Sarkozy, his summer wardrobe was equally as effective at showing off his own little blossoming bump, as his light cotton shirt blew open to reveal a tiny paunch. Usually trim, it seems that Mr Sarkozy could be suffering from the common phenomenon dubbed ‘pregMANcy’ – where the partner of a woman with child begins displaying symptoms himself.

In this case, perhaps Carla’s husband has been indulging in late night ice cream cravings with his wife. No doubt the President, who follows a strict fitness regime, will be running it off before long. Regardless, the two seemed closer than ever as they took a romantic walk to the beach, their arms entwined.

With a protection officer in tow, the couple took a swim in the Med, Carla allowing a float to take the weight off while Sarkozy bobbed beside her. If this is the couple’s last holiday before welcoming the twins, then it could be the last moment of calm before the storm. It looked as though the couple were determined to make the most of it.

[From The Mail]

I think they seem cute and happy. Politics aside, it must be a great time for them. And I guess we’ve established that Carla is determined to ensure that this baby (or at least one of the babies) is a boy, because only a son would make her life complete, not a daughter. Neither Sarko or Carla have daughters, by the way. Carla has one son, Sarko has… four, I think. Wouldn’t it be great if they had a little girl?

Photos courtesy of Fame & Pacific Coast News.

CB and I saw some gossip about this yesterday, and we ended up chatting about cheating douches and looking for wedding rings and forgiveness. That being said, neither of us put much stock into the initial reports of French President Nicolas Sarkozy and his wife Carla Bruni-Sarkozy were perhaps cheating on each other. It was just something interesting to chat about. But now an obscure story about a possible presidential affair(s) has taken on a life of its own. Page Six is running with the rumors the Bruniis “romantically involved with French musician Benjamin Biolay, while Sarkozy has fallen into the arms of 40-year-old ecology minister Chantal Jouanno”. Apparently, the whole thing started on Twitter (f-ck you, Twitter) and now media sources are running with old quotes from Carla that she’s “easily bored by monogamy.” Merde! Here’s more from Gatecrasher:

Ooh la la!

Reports surfaced Tuesday that French royal couple Nicolas Sarkozy and Carla Bruni may both be having extramarital affairs – allegations which, if proven true, will surely knock Tiger Woods out of the spotlight.

It’s rumored that the French President has Chantal Jouanno – a right-wing cabinet member – on the side, while the First Lady is seeing musician Benjamin Biolay.

“The presidential marriage is breathing its last breaths,” French paper Journal Du Dimanche reports. “Carla Bruni is in love with Benjamin Biolay, and the president has found solace with Chantal Jouanno.”

An online French publication, suchablog.com, reported shortly thereafter that Bruni had been a close friend of the 37-year-old musician for many years and is now “unofficially living with him at his flat in Paris.”

Those aren’t the only outlets that have Carla and Nicolas saying a joint “mon Dieu!” Tuesday, Yahoo News France, Le Post and the Global Post, as well as European TV news channel iTele, gave the allegations substantial coverage.

Sarkozy’s spokesman at the Elysee Palace in Paris has said he has “absolutely no comment” on the rumors, but this certainly isn’t the first time whispers have swirled about the First Couple’s marriage. Rumors recently flew that the two are holding on to the last threads of their relationship just until the end of Sarkozy’s presidency.

The intentions of Bruni – who was linked to Mick Jagger, Eric Clapton and Donald Trump before meeting the French leader at a dinner party and marrying him just three months later – have been questioned in the past. In a February 2007 interview, the then-model admitted she gets “terribly bored” with monogamy – and was painted as a gold digger when she married Sarkozy later that year.

[From Gatecrasher]

Eh. I mean, sure, it’s not like either of them have the best history with monogamy. What is this, Sarkozy’s third or fourth marriage? And Carla used to sleep with any powerful or cultured man she could find. So, it’s totally not out of the realm of possibility for either of them. But I, for one, kind of believed in their romance, at least on Carla’s part. I thought she really adored Pres. Sarkozy, and had “changed”. But, as I said to CB yesterday, that’s probably all very American and middle-class of me. I hate to make such a broad cultural stereotype, but having an affair isn’t the end of the world (or a marriage) in France. But if that’s the case, why is everyone getting in such a tizzy about the affair rumors? Because the Sarkozys are good copy, they’re good gossip, and it’s fun. Let’s hope that’s all it is.

Carla Bruni, supermodel/singer/man-eater/France’s glamorous First Lady, has made the mainstream French establishment gasp. For like the millionth time. Carla gave an interview to the magazine Madame Figaro, and she said that if she doesn’t get pregnant soon, adoption is on the table. Carla says she’s “not obsessed by blood ties”.

President Sarkozy and Carla just celebrated their first wedding anniversary. They were married after a whirlwind three-month courtship. Sarko (his press nickname) had been married twice before and already has three children. Carla has one 7-year-old son, whose father was one of her many glamorous and controversial conquests, a man who is still in her life.

In the interview, Carla alludes to the fact that she and Sarko has been trying to get pregnant. The 41-year-old also says she’s “not going to fight against nature”, which I guess is a way of saying that she and Sarko don’t want to go through any fertility procedures to get pregnant. The Daily Mail has more:

France’s first lady Carla Bruni-Sarkozy says she would like to have a baby and if that does not work out she would be happy to adopt one.

The comments, made in an interview with the magazine Madame Figaro, come just over a year after the supermodel-turned-pop star married President Nicolas Sarkozy. Asked whether she wanted a baby, 41-year-old Bruni-Sarkozy said: ‘I would like that, but I don’t know if it will be possible at my age… If it’s not possible biologically, I will adopt one. I’m not obsessed by blood ties. I think you can form strong bonds without that.’

Bruni-Sarkozy has a 7-year-old son from a previous relationship while her husband, who is 54, has three children from his two previous marriages. There has been intense speculation in the celebrity press about whether the Sarkozy couple planned to try for a child.

‘I would love to have a child but I’m not going to fight against nature. I already have one and my husband has three, so you can’t really say we are desperate for children,’ she said.

The pair met in November 2007, just weeks after Sarkozy divorced from his second wife Cecilia, and tied the knot less than three months later. Their whirlwind romance captured the public imagination in France and abroad, generating dozens of glossy magazine covers, but many criticised Sarkozy for putting his private life first at a time when the country was facing economic difficulties.

Turning to a vein of commentary that has run through French media coverage of their relationship, Bruni-Sarkozy said it was not true she had more highbrow cultural tastes than her husband.

‘There is this stereotype about the right in general and my husband in particular: that they lack culture,’ she said. ‘One day I read an article saying that my husband never read a book. The man who wrote the article must live with us since he knows that my husband never reads! The truth is that my husband spends all his free time reading.’

The bookworm Sarkozy was currently reading works by the philosopher Jean-Paul Sartre, the 19th century novelist Alexandre Dumas and the Roman emperor Marcus Aurelius, the first lady said.

[From The Daily Mail]

Jean-Paul Sartre’s writing is over-rated. Carla should suggest Sartre’s lover, The Second Sex author Simone de Beauvoir for a good read.

Back on topic, this little piece of information is sure to throw the French – and probably the entire European – media into a tizzy. At first, the attention on Carla and Sarko’s relationship was almost entirely negative. But a few months into their marriage, something changed. The French people, and everyone who met Carla, started seeing her as her husband’s best asset. Carla travels with her husband, she’s always decked out in beautiful clothes, and she’s actually not that political, so she‘s not vying with her husband‘s agenda. She’s sort of like a really glamorous, sexy version of Laura Bush. Or something.

Here’s Carla Bruni-Sarkozy attending the Fashion Dinner for AIDS benefit at the Pavillon d’Armenonville in Paris on January 29th. Images thanks to WENN.com.

French President Nicolas Sarkozy, 53, married his girlfriend of only three months, former supermodel Carla Bruni, 40, at the Elysee Palace today. The Elysee is the official residence of the President.

The pair tied the knot at a low-key, civil ceremony conducted by the mayor of the Paris district that houses the president’s grandiose official residence.

“I married two voters … who live at 55 Rue du Faubourg St Honore,” Mayor Francois Lebel told Europe 1 radio, giving the official address of the Elysee. The bride was wearing white and was ravishing, as usual,” he said, adding: “The bridegroom wasn’t bad either.”

Another official told Reuters the wedding took place at 11 a.m. (5 a.m. EST) and Italian news agency ANSA quoted Bruni’s mother, Marisa Borini, as confirming the event. Sarkozy and Bruni indicated last month that they planned to marry after a whirlwind romance and made clear that it would be a private affair, far from the eyes of the press.

[From Yahoo! News]

The wedding was short, lasting only about 20 minutes. There were only 20 people there, mostly family and very close friends. The last head of state to marry in office was Napoleon III. Sarkozy has only been divorced from his second wife for a few months after they separated last October. Reports were that he took the divorce very hard. His colleagues said he was deeply upset by the divorce. He and Bruni started dating in November.

The two have garnered a lot of press – and a lot of criticism – over the course of their short relationship. Anytime a political figure dates a model or actor, a lot of people are going to talk. But the popular opinion was that Sarkozy was spending far too much time focusing on his relationship with Bruni when he should have been spending more of it on the nation’s business. It’s thought their marriage may actually make things easier for Sarkozy, since Bruni is now the first lady and will join him on official trips.

Last year Bruni told Figaro Madame magazine “I’m monogamous from time to time, but I prefer polygamy and polyandry.” Apparently that preference doesn’t hold when you’ve got the chance to marry the President of France.

Picture Note by JayBird: French President Nicolas Sarkozy and his model-turned-singer girlfriend, Carla Bruni, in Luxor, Egypt. Images thanks to Splash.