Cecilia [sic] Attias, whose marriage to Mr Sarkozy, the former French president, lasted for 11 years until their divorce in 2007, has said he was an impulsive man who would fly into rages, in contrast to his public image. The couple had a well-publicised split when she left Mr Sarkozy in May 2005 for several months for the international communications consultant, Richard Attias. She returned to her husband in the run-up to the 2007 elections, but they divorced later that year.
In her new book Une Envie de Vérité (A Desire For Truth), extracts of which were published in Le Point and Elle magazine, the 55-year-old former model reveals that she fell for the “solid and calm” Mr Attias in contrast to the “misleading superficiality” of Mr Sarkozy.
In some of the most damaging extracts for a man widely tipped to be seeking to make a presidential comeback in 2017, Mrs Attias comments on Mr Sarkozy’s temperament and political judgment.
“It is strange that a man who in private was totally placid and would never raise his voice could — notably later — give such an impulsive image of himself,” she writes. » | Henry Samuel, Paris | Thursday, October 03, 2013
