THE SUNDAY TIMES: Reports that the marriage of France’s first couple was in trouble sprang from just two postings on the social networking site
When Nicolas Sarkozy, the French leader, and his wife, Carla Bruni-Sarkozy, hosted a state banquet for Dmitry Medvedev, the Russian president, at the Elysée Palace recently it was not only Carla’s figure-hugging dress that caught people’s attention.
After dinner, in an unusual departure from custom, the Sarkozys failed to show up for coffee in the drawing room with their guests. Something must have been wrong, one of those present later told a foreign diplomat: they must be having a row.
Spare a thought for “Sarko” and his première dame, a singer and former top model. Ever since they met at a dinner party, and married just over two years ago, the country has been wondering how long it will last. A president known for a roving eye, a willowy beauty renowned as a “man-eater” — to many it seemed destined to end in tears.
No wonder, then, that their body language, and everything else about them, is scrutinised so intensely: the merest detail is enough to set off the gossips. If Carla appears at the president’s side in heels, as she did for the Russian banquet, she must be signalling her displeasure by towering over the pint-sized Sarkozy. Mustn’t she?
In the grand old days of Versailles, it would take weeks for gossip to filter through the ramparts to the hungry masses outside. Today the internet is being used like a battering ram against the high palace walls.
In the age of Twitter, rumours flash around the world in a second and can end up in newspapers, regardless of whether they are true. It has prompted debate among lawyers about whether victims can pursue Twitterers, and if simply relaying a defamatory tweet should also be punishable under the law.
Even before the Medvedev dinner 12 days ago, rumours were flying in cyberspace. Carla was having an affair, it was said, with Benjamin Biolay, a 37-year-old singer, and had been on holiday with him to Thailand. A jealous Sarkozy had sent a jet to bring her home.
That was not all. Twitterers went on to say that the president was consoling himself in the arms of Chantal Jouanno, his junior ecology minister, a karate champion. By the time the British press got hold of the story last Wednesday, the French first couple were reported to be on the verge of rupture.
At a press conference with Gordon Brown, the prime minister, in London last Friday, Sarkozy was asked about the rumours. He glowered at the offending journalist: “I certainly don’t have time to deal with these wild imaginings, not even half a fraction of a second. I don’t even know why you use your speaking time to put such an idiotic question.”
For her part, Jouanno, who is married with three children — to whom she described her job as being minister “for the birds and the bees” — is threatening to sue any publication that refers to any affair between her and Sarkozy. Biolay has likewise threatened to sue.
So how did a few bits of internet gossip make global headlines? And what, if anything other than pure fantasy, is behind all the tweets? >>> Matthew Campbell in Paris | Sunday, March 14, 2010
