Cécilia ex-Sarkozy va publier ses mémoires

LE POINT: Cécilia Attias a attendu le départ de son ex-mari de l'Élysée pour s'exprimer sur certains points opaques du début du quinquennat Sarkozy.

C'est un livre entouré du plus grand secret et déjà l'un des plus attendus : Cécilia Attias, ex-Sarkozy et ex-première dame, va publier un ouvrage autobiographique mi-octobre chez Flammarion, a confirmé lundi l'éditeur. Le livre devrait paraître "mi-octobre", a indiqué sans plus de détails l'agence à laquelle Flammarion a confié la communication sur cet ouvrage dont le titre et le contenu restent top-secret. Les bonnes feuilles seront publiées dans Le Point. » | Source AFP | lundi 23 septembre 2013

Dix mots pour dire le souvenir du 11-Septembre

LE BLOG DE CÉCILIA ATTIAS: Merci à tous ceux et celles qui ont découvert ce blog ce matin. Les réactions sont nombreuses : je m'en réjouis, car cela signifie que chacun se sent libre de s'exprimer, ce qui est bien entendu mon souhait. De New York, où j'habite, je ne peux pas passer sous silence l'émotion qui est la mienne face au dixème anniversaire de l'attentat du 11-Septembre, alors que la ville se prépare à sa célébration. Dix ans déjà que le monde a basculé. L’attentat du 11-Septembre restera à jamais ce moment historique qui a signé la fin d’une ère et bouleversé le monde. Je vous livre ma réflexion autour de dix mots clés. » | Cécilia Attia | Dimanche 11 Septembre 2011

Sarkozy to Be Subject of 'Hugely Embarrassing' Film Charting Rise to Power and Second Divorce
Sarkozy is seen here in June 2007 with second wife Cecilia. The film depicts the newly-elected French President begging his then-wife to come support him at his victory party. Photograph: Mail Online
MAIL ONLINE: French President Nicolas Sarkozy is the subject of a 'hugely embarrassing' new film exploring why his previous wife left him on the day he was elected.

The move called The Conquest is the first ever movie about a French president to be released while they are still in office.

It portrays his rise to power in the five years before he was elected in 2007.

And French critics have said it also sheds light on one the greatest mysteries of his presidency - why Cecilia Sarkozy walked out on him on the night of the election.

The film pulls no punches as it opens with Sarkozy waking up alone at a hotel on the Champs-Elysees after celebrating his election victory.

He is then shown spending his first day as President searching in vain for the wife he married in 1996, a former top model and mother of his youngest son Louis, 13. >>> Ian Sparks | Tuesday, January 11, 2011

L’ex-première dame de France reçoit Gala à Manhattan
Photo : Gala.fr
GALA.fr: Lundi dernier, le monde célébrait la Journée de la femme. Quatre jours plus tôt, à New York, où désormais elle réside, Cécilia organisait le premier dîner officiel de la Foundation for Women dont elle s’occupe activement depuis plus d’un an. Pour elle une nouvelle vie commence, une vie au service des autres… >>> | Mercredi 10 Mar 2010

Nicolas Sarkozy Affair Revealed in Notes of Ex-spy Chief Yves Bertrand
Photo of Nicolas Sarkozy courtesy of the Times Online
TIMESONLINE: President Sarkozy had an affair with the wife of one of his present Cabinet members about four years ago, when he was serving as Interior Minister, according to the former head of French police intelligence.

The alleged episode was one of a multitude of damaging secrets reported yesterday from the private notebooks of Yves Bertrand, who was central director of the powerful Renseignements Généraux (RG) spy agency for 12 years until 2004.

The police chief, whose shadowy service had long been a political tool for French rulers, also recorded in 2003: “Chirac has been for a facelift in Canada.”

The diaries, packed with potentially explosive accounts of drug-taking, illicit sex, blackmail and corruption among French leaders, were seized by judges recently as part of an investigation into dirty tricks. They were leaked to Le Point, a news magazine.

Mr Bertrand, 63, also recorded intimate details of the private life and family of Lionel Jospin, Prime Minister and candidate against President Chirac in the election in 2002.

His regular informants included journalists who were paid, said Le Point. “These notebooks are a terrifying journey under the skirts of the Republic,” said the magazine, which quoted only edited excerpts.

“One could laugh if this exercise in underhand police work had not sometimes broken careers, thwarted democracy and sometimes destroyed lives,” it said.

Key names were omitted by Le Point, but its summary of the notebooks appeared to confirm an assumption that after 2002 the RG was working for President Chirac to undermine Mr Sarkozy when he took over the Gaullist movement and made a bid for the presidency.

One of the unconfirmed reports then was that Cécilia Sarkozy, is [sic] wife, had been tipped off by the RG of his alleged infidelity. Nicolas Sarkozy Affair Revealed in Notes of Ex-spy Chief Yves Bertrand >>> Charles Bremner in Paris | October 10, 2008

The Dawning of a New Dark Age – Paperback (US) Barnes & Noble >>>
The Dawning of a New Dark Age – Hardcover (US) Barnes & Noble >>>

Cécilia Sarkozy: "Carla Bruni Won't Make Him Forget Me in a Hurry!"
Photo of Nicolas and Cécilia courtesy of The Telegraph
THE TELEGRAPH: President Nicolas Sarkozy's ex-wife Cécilia has branded him a "stingy philanderer" with a "behavioural problem" who is an "unworthy president" of France.

Cécilia Sarkozy is reported to have made the comments before Mr Sarkozy hinted that he will marry the ex-supermodel Carla Bruni following a whirlwind affair of less than three months.

As the Élysée palace soap opera descended to new depths of vitriol, Mrs Sarkozy alleged that her 52-year-old ex-husband was "a man who likes no-one, not even his children".

According to a new book, she even called the president's other female friends "a bunch of slappers" and young female government ministers "boring wallflowers".

Mrs Sarkozy is also said to have launched a thinly veiled attack on the president's 40-year-old fiancee, telling a friend: "Carla Bruni won't make him forget me in a hurry!"

Although Mr Sarkozy is expected to marry Miss Bruni, Mrs Sarkozy is unconvinced that her ex-husband of eleven years has got over her, and he is currently on the rebound. Nicolas Sarkozy's ex attacks 'stingy' husband >>> By Peter Allen in Paris

THE GUARDIAN:
Sarkozy’s ex-wife fails to ban book of revelations By David Batty and agencies

Mark Alexander (Paperback)
Mark Alexander (Hardback)

Sarkozy Mediterranean Summit Bid
Photo of Nicolas Sarkozy courtesy of the BBC
BBC: France's president has invited the leaders of Mediterranean countries to attend a summit to discuss "economic, political and cultural union".

Speaking on a visit to Morocco, Nicolas Sarkozy invited heads of state and government to meet in France in 2008.

He said the proposed grouping would be different from the European Union, but that the European Commission could ensure they complement one another.

Past efforts to bring together Mediterranean countries have failed.

"What is at play is absolutely decisive," Mr Sarkozy said of the often tense region where different cultures, religions and ways of life meet. "Here, we win all or lose all."

"The future of Europe lies in the south," he added. Sarkozy Mediterranean summit bid (more)

Mark Alexander

Nicolas and His Femme Fatale
Photo courtesy of the BBC
BBC: She wanted to "live in the shadows" but her husband wanted to live in the limelight.

So Cecilia summed up the inevitability of her marriage breakdown today in the French newspaper, L'Est Republicain.

The 49-year-old former model insisted they had "tried everything" to stay together. And even though she had run off to New York in 2005 with an advertising executive, she said she had returned with every intention of rebuilding her relationship.

"What happened to me has happened to millions of people," she said. "One day you just don't have your place in the couple... it does not work anymore."

France's former first lady went on to say she now wanted time to be able to put her family first.

The couple, who were both on their second marriage, had one child together, Louis, aged 11. They also had two children each from their previous marriages.

But for someone who explained her public absences by claiming it was a way "to not show oneself, not expose oneself, to protect oneself", Cecilia has been quick off the mark to get her side of the story in the press.

Especially so when the official divorce statement from the Elysee stated clearly that neither side wished to comment on their separation. Sarkozy split: Adieu to an ideal (more)

WATCH BBC VIDEO:
Nicolas and Cécilia divorce

TRIBUNE DE GENÈVE:
Pour les Français, le divorce des Sarkozy est «une affaire privée»

Mark Alexander

Flirtatious Sarkozy Plays the Field
TIMESONLINE: OVER the past few weeks a French cable television channel has been playing Love Actually, the film featuring Hugh Grant as a bachelor British prime minister who is smitten with a member of his staff.

France is lapping it up - the French prime minister’s household enjoyed a viewing recently – but no film could compete with the Gallic version unfolding in real life as Nicolas Sarkozy, the pint-sized president, is left on his own at the summit of power after separating from Cécilia, his glamorous wife.

Their divorce proceedings have unleashed a torrent of speculation about how “super Sarko”, as the hyperactive leader is known, will fare as the first bachelor head of state in France since Napoleon divorced Josephine when she could not bear him a child.

From François Mitterrand’s “secret” family to the escapades of Jacques Chirac – when he was mayor of Paris his nickname was “three minutes including shower” – French politicians’ love lives follow a colourful tradition. Although elected on a platform of “rupture” with the past, Sarkozy is unlikely to be the exception. Far from it.

In what seems certain to become a national pastime, speculation began last week about who would be the next “première dame” as the country prepared for the unprecedented spectacle of a president playing the field.

Sarkozy, who has two grown-up sons from his first marriage, is often described as a seductive figure and Cécilia, a tall former model who has two grown-up daughters from her own first marriage, enjoys the same reputation. Together they have Louis, a 10-year-old son, but the marriage had deteriorated recently to such an extent that Cécilia stopped appearing with Sarkozy in public, fuelling rumours that they may have sought comfort elsewhere.

“I dedicated 20 years of my life to Nicolas, 20 years that were not always easy, far from it,” Cécilia, 49, said yesterday in Elle magazine. “They were 20 years in which I devoted myself to him in the shadow.”

Sarkozy, who has made clear in the past how crucial Cécilia was to his wellbeing, seemed, nevertheless, to have begun turning the page. There is no shortage of women to keep him amused.

As he came out of a meeting with ministers a few weeks ago, a photographer caught him carrying a letter which said: “I haven’t seen you for an eternity and I miss you . . . a million little kisses.” French tongues wag as Nicolas Sarkozy plays the field (more) By Matthew Campbell in Paris

TIMESONLINE:
Cécilia Sarkozy in her own words

Mark Alexander

The End of the Road for Nicolas and Cécilia
Photo of Nicolas and Cécilia courtesy of The Telegraph
THE TELEGRAPH: Cécilia Sarkozy says her marriage broke up because unlike her former husband, president Nicolas Sarkozy of France, she wanted to escape the limelight.

“For him it’s like a violinist, who has been given a Stradivarius, suddenly he has the chance to practice his art,” she told regional daily L’Est Republicain in her first interview since the couple’s divorce announcement.

“It’s not the same thing for me.”

The Elysee yesterday confirmed the couple had divorced “by mutual consent” after 11 years of marriage and a turbulent last two years.

“We tried everything, I tried everything. But it just wasn’t possible anymore...Public life doesn’t suit me,” she said.

“I am someone who likes to be in the shadows, who likes serenity, tranquility,” she said. Cécilia Sarkozy: Public life doesn’t suit me (more) By Henry Samuel in Paris

Mark Alexander

Sarkozy’s Marriage On the Rocks
THE TELEGRAPH: President Nicolas Sarkozy of France and his wife Cécilia have divorced "by mutual consent", the Elysée Palace confirmed today.

Pressure had been building on Mr Sarkozy to make a statement about his marriage amid fears that the issue could overshadow the EU summit in Lisbon, where European leaders are due to agree a text for a simplified European treaty.

Mr Sarkozy, 52, and Cécilia, a 49-year old former model, have been married for 11 years and have five children: two each from their first marriages and their own son, Louis.

The television news channel LCI and the Liberation newspaper quoted judicial sources yesterday as saying that Cécilia had applied to a judge for a divorce on Monday and that a judge visited the Elysée Palace later that evening to see Mr Sarkozy to validate the procedure. Nicolas Sarkozy announces end of his marriage (more) By Henry Samuel in Paris

Nicolas Sarkozy 'struck by lightning' at Cécilia By Henry Samuel in Paris

Frankreichs Präsident Sarkozy und seine Frau trennen sich: Bestätigung nach wochenlangen Gerüchten

LE FIGARO:
Nicolas et Cécilia Sarkozy divorcent de Samuel Laurent

TRIBUNE DE GENÈVE:
Nicolas Sarkozy et son épouse Cécilia officialisent leur separation

Mark Alexander

Nicolas et Cécilia
LE FIGARO: Selon LCI, Cécilia Sarkozy a déposé lundi une requête de divorce auprès du tribunal de Nanterre. L’Elysée se refuse à tout commentaire.

Rumeur, toujours, mais rumeur qui se précise. La chaîne LCI affirme mercredi que Cécilia Sarkozy «s'est rendue, sans son époux, lundi matin au tribunal de Nanterre» pour y déposer «une requête en divorce auprès du juge aux affaires familiales».

Toujours selon la chaîne, qui ne cite pas ses sources, «le président de la République ne se serait pas déplacé au tribunal en compagnie de son ex épouse mais aurait reçu la visite du juge le lendemain» à l’Elysée. Les Sarkozy auraient "matérialisé leur séparation" (suivant)

TRIBUNE DE GENÈVE:
Le couple Sarkozy aurait formalisé son divorce

NZZ:
Sarkozys Ehe vor dem Aus: Cécilia soll Scheidung eingereicht haben

Mark Alexander

Speculation Mounts About Sarkozy’s Marriage
SPIEGELONLINE INTERNATIONAL: French President Nicolas Sarkozy and his wife Cecilia are rumored to be on the verge of divorce. If confirmed, it would mark the end of the president's attempts to create an image of domestic harmony for political gain.

Cecilia Sarkozy is the only topic that evokes both loving adoration and admissions of vulnerability from France's habitually gruff president. "She's my strength and my Achilles heel at the same time," admitted Nicolas Sarkozy in the fall of 2003, long before he moved into the presidential Elysee Palace.

As late as this spring, he was convinced that voters would be charmed by his wife: "If you loved Jacqueline Kennedy, you are going to adore Cecilia Sarkozy." But then his confidence waned by summer: "At the end of the day, my only real worry is Cecilia."

For weeks, the signs have been mounting that the presidential couple may be headed toward an imminent break up. There is no other plausible explanation for her constant absence from public life. Compared to Cecilia Sarkozy, German Chancellor Angela Merkel's notoriously publicity-shy spouse Joachim Sauer looks like her constant companion. Is the Sarkozy Marriage On the Rocks? (more)
Mark Alexander

Cécilia Sarkozy lève le voile
TRIBUNE DE GENÈVE: L’épouse du président assure n’avoir offert que des contreparties médicales en échange des infirmières.

Elle est finalement sortie de son silence. Dans une interview, hier à L’Est Républicain, Cécilia Sarkozy assure que la France n’a offert que des «contreparties d’ordre médical» pour obtenir, le 24 juillet dernier, la libération des six infirmières bulgares et du médecin palestinien détenus durant plus de huit ans en Libye sous l’accusation d’avoir inoculé le sida à plus de 400 enfants. «J’ai offert à l’hôpital de Benghazi des médecins chargés de former leurs homologues, des équipements, des traitements contre le sida et des visas pour que ces cas urgents puissent venir se faire traiter en France.»

L’épouse du président répète qu’elle ne souhaite pas se rendre devant la commission parlementaire sur la libération des infirmières bulgares. «Je crois que ce n’est pas ma place.» Cécilia Sarkozy lève le voile sur son tête-à-tête avec le colonel Kadhafi (suivant)

Mark Alexander

Cécilia Sarkozy à Tripoli
LE FIGARO: "on peut être raisonnablement optimiste" assure l'Élysée au lendemain du voyage surprise en Libye de la première dame de France.

EN JUIN dernier, Cécilia Sarkozy ne cachait plus son intention de jouer un rôle diplomatique « complémentaire » de celui du président de la République, à l'image d'une « first lady » aux États-Unis. La première dame de France semble avoir trouvé dans la crise des infirmières bulgares, condamnées à mort par la justice libyenne, l'occasion de donner la mesure du rôle qu'elle entend jouer sur la scène politique internationale.

L'épouse du président français était hier à Tripoli pour une visite surprise, au cours de laquelle elle a rendu visite aux cinq infirmières, emprisonnées depuis huit ans et condamnées à mort pour avoir inoculé le virus du sida à plus de 400 enfants libyens. Elle a ensuite quitté Tripoli pour se rendre à Benghazi (1 000 km à l'est de la capitale) afin de rencontrer les enfants contaminés et leurs familles.

Interrogé sur ce voyage, le chef de l'État français précisait dans l'après-midi d'hier, en arrivant à la mairie d'Épinal pour « une grande réunion républicaine » sur les institutions françaises, que son épouse aurait dans la soirée une « nouvelle rencontre avec le colonel Mouammar Kadhafi », le numéro un libyen qui l'avait accueillie le matin.

L'intéressée a précisé que sa visite en Libye n'était « pas officielle » et qu'elle a été envoyée par le président français « en tant que mère » pour exprimer le soutien de la France aux enfants, a affirmé le porte-parole des familles, Idriss Lagha. « La rencontre a été très chaleureuse », a indiqué ce dernier, ajoutant que Mme Sarkozy avait promis un appui médical et des facilités pour l'obtention de visa pour les familles qui désirent soigner leurs enfants en France. Cécilia Sarkozy auprès des infirmières bulgares (suivant)

Mark Alexander