A top aide to France's first lady says she will remain in hospital for several more days to recover from the shock of a tabloid report that her partner, François Hollande, is having an affair with an actor.
Valerie Trierweiler's chief of staff, Patrice Biancone, said on Monday she could stay in hospital for a further six or eight days. She was initially expected to leave the hospital on Monday. He said she suffered a "very strong emotional shock" and needed rest. One official said she was receiving treatment for "a severe case of the blues".
Hollande has never married. He and Trierweiler have lived together since 2007 and she occupies the so-called "madame wing" of the presidential palace.
Meanwhile, the "Hollande affair" has taken an unexpectedly sinister turn with claims – and counter-claims – that the flat used for the president's alleged love tryst with an actor was linked to the Corsican mafia.
French media reported that the apartment where François Hollande met Julie Gayet was lent to her by a friend who was involved with two mobsters. » | Kim Willsher and Anne Penketh in Paris | Monday, January 13, 2014
