THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: A political author whose face Nicolas Sarkozy threatened to "smash in" over claims Carla Bruni-Sarkozy was a "maneater" has seen his state television show shelved, sparking claims that the French president was involved in the move.Last month, Franz-Olivier Giesbert, 62, director of the weekly magazine Le Point, released a biography on Mr Sarkozy called M. Le President, which today tops France's bestseller list.
In it, he branded Mr Sarkozy a "child king" who is "drunk on himself", "immature" and a "weathervane" who is "tyrannical" with his entourage and above all his friends. He recounts being subjected to a 40-minute telephone tirade by [the] Mr Sarkozy sparked by an article offering "24 tips to the President ahead of his marriage to Mademoiselle Bruni".
One piece of advice was: "Do not introduce your new wife to your sons, Barack Obama or any handsome men."
Mr Sarkozy told Mr Giesbert: "This article is filth and I should smash your face in."
"You'll see what I'm going to do to you, you'll see," he threatened. Mr Giesbert said the president subsequently sought to pressure Le Point's owner, the luxury goods billionaire François Pinault, into firing Mr Giesbert, to no avail. » | Henry Samuel, Paris | Friday, May 06, 2011
