François Hollande officialise sa rupture avec Valérie Trierweiler

LE PARISIEN: Voilà, c'est fini. François Hollande et Valérie Trierweiler ont acté leur séparation. Le chef de l'Etat a annoncé ce samedi soir «la fin de sa vie commune» avec sa compagne, dans une déclaration à l'AFP. Précisant qu'il s'exprimait à titre personnel et non en tant que président, car il s'agit de «(sa) vie privée», il a déclaré : «Je fais savoir que j'ai mis fin à la vie commune que je partageais avec Valérie Trierweiler.»

Selon nos informations, la première dame ne voulait pas signer de communiqué commun. «Il l'a consultée et mise au courant, elle accepte la situation de fait, mais elle lui laisse l'inititative de son acte», explique son entourage au «Parisien».

Valérie Trierweiler a quitté la Lanterne, la résidence de Versailles où elle se reposait depuis une semaine après son hospitalisation, pour réintégrer l'appartement du couple, rue Cauchy dans le XVe arrondissement de Paris. La journaliste s'y est rendu ce samedi après-midi, selon nos informations. C'est donc en simple citoyenne qu'elle va effectuer son voyage à Bombay (Inde) où elle s'envolera dimanche, en faveur de l'association Action contre la faim (ACF). » | Par Frédéric Gerschel | samedi 25 janvier 2014

THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: It’s official: François Hollande and Valérie Trierweiler announce separation: President François Hollande tells French news agency he has separated from Valérie Trierweiler on eve of her planned charity trip to India » | David Cjazan, Paris | Saturday, January 25, 2014

SPIEGEL ONLINE: Hollande-Liebesaffäre: Au revoir, mon amour: Frankreichs Staatschef François Hollande und seine Lebensgefährtin trennen sich. Mit der offiziellen Ankündigung geht die mediale Telenovela um die mutmaßliche Präsidentenaffäre zu Ende. Zumindest vorläufig. » | Von Stefan Simons, Paris | Samstag, 25. Januar 2014

François Hollande 'To Announce Separation from Valérie Trierweiler'

THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: French president expected to make statement revealing the end of their relationship ahead of a charity trip to India by Trierweiler

French President François Hollande is expected to announce his separation from partner Valerie Trierweiler on Saturday following a media storm over allegations he is having an affair with an actress, according to the Journal du Dimanche.

Trierweiler, 48, the first lady and Mr Hollande's partner since 2006, plans to travel to India on Sunday for a charity trip and the president wants to settle the issue of their future before her departure, the newspaper said.

"The press release from the Elysee Palace should be released sometime today," the respected national weekly said on its website, without citing its sources.

A spokesman for the president declined to comment on the report, and Trierweiler's spokesman did not immediately return a request for comment. » | Reuters | Saturday, January 25, 2014

Valérie Trierweiler quitte l'hôpital pour la Lanterne

Valérie Trierweiler

LE POINT: La première dame a quitté l'hôpital de la Pitié-Salpêtrière ce samedi vers 15 heures pour se rendre à la Lanterne, la résidence de la République à Versailles.

Valérie Trierweiler n'est plus à l'hôpital. La première dame a quitté sa chambre ce samedi dans l'après-midi à 15 heures pour se rendre à la Lanterne, la résidence de la République située dans les Yvelines à Versailles. Valérie Trierweiler a été admise il y a plus d'une semaine à la Pitié-Salpêtrière à Paris après la révélation de la liaison présumée de François Hollande avec l'actrice Julie Gayet par le magazine Closer.

Selon Le Canard enchaîné, la première dame avait été victime d'une "crise de nerfs". Information démentie par son entourage pendant que son cabinet indiquait qu'elle devait "prendre du repos". Puis, sa date de sortie de l'hôpital avait été reportée à plusieurs reprises. Un conseiller de l'Élysée assurait encore jeudi : "Rien n'est fixé, ce sont toujours les médecins qui sont maîtres de la décision." » | Source SIPA Media | samedi 18 janvier 2014

François Hollande and Julie Gayet 'In Love for Two Years,' Closer Magazine Claims

THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: François Hollande and Julie Gayet "have been in love for two years," spending time at a second Paris apartment and in the South of France, Closer magazine reported on Friday

François Hollande has been having an affair with Julie Gayet for two years and the French president was introduced to the actress by Ségolène Royal, his ex-partner and mother of his four children, according to the gossip magazine that broke the story last week.

The magazine said the president and Miss Gayet had been having a "turbulent romance" that began in 2011, before Mr Hollande's election campaign.

The revelations in Friday’s edition of Closer, which Miss Gayet, 41, is suing for breach of privacy, came as Mr Hollande's official partner, Valerie [sic] Trierweiler, remained in hospital, where she was admitted after learning of the alleged affair a week ago. Friends were reported to have said on Thursday that she had taken “a pill too many” and was too weak to stand. » | Harriet Alexander | Friday, January 17, 2014

François Hollande's 'Affair' Leads to Poll Boost... Thanks to Support from French Women

Valérie Trierweiler | François Hollande

LONDON EVENING STANDARD: François Hollande has won the support of tens of thousands more French women following reports of his affair, a poll reveals today.

The survey for Le Nouvel Observateur magazine showed a three-point jump among women in approval for the French leader, from 23 per cent in December to 26 per cent. The biggest increase in backing for him in the LH2 poll appeared to be among women aged 25-34 and 50-64.

In contrast, men in France seem far less impressed by the president’s reported liaisons with actress Julie Gayet. His 26 per cent approval rating remains unchanged.

The poll also appeared to show that France is divided in its reaction to the revelations about Mr Hollande’s love life and has crystalised opinion about him. The percentage of women who disapproved of him has also gone up three points, leaving his overall net popularity unchanged. » | Nicholas Cecil, Peter Allen | Tuesday, January 14, 2014

Valérie Trierweiler to Remain in Hospital for Several More Days

THE GUARDIAN: François Hollande's partner was said to have suffered a 'very strong emotional shock' after hearing claims of affair

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

François Hollande's Partner Valérie Trierweiler in Hospital with 'Exhaustion'

THE GUARDIAN: Journalist has been prescribed rest by doctors after learning of claims that French president was having affair with Julie Gayet

Valérie Trierweiler, the partner of the French president, François Hollande, has been taken to hospital with "exhaustion" following claims that he has been having an affair, it has emerged.

After hearing of Hollande's alleged trysts with the actor Julie Gayet, Trierweiler, a journalist, was taken to hospital where doctors prescribed rest. Trierweiler's office told L'Express magazine she had been taken to hospital on Friday afternoon and was due to be released on Monday.

An unidentified Élysée official told Le Monde that Trierweiler was suffering a "severe case of the blues". » | Anne Penketh in Paris | Sunday, January 12, 2014

Obama : «Michelle et moi sommes impatients d'accueillir le président Hollande»

LePARISIEN: François Hollande se rendra aux Etats-Unis le 11 février 2014 pour une visite d'Etat à l'invitation de Barack Obama, ont annoncé à la fois vendredi l'Elysée et la Maison Blanche.

«Michelle et moi sommes impatients d'accueillir le président Hollande et Valérie Trierweiler pour une visite d'Etat avec un dîner d'Etat à la Maison blanche le 11 février», annonce le président américain dans son communiqué.

«Durant cette visite, nous discuterons des possibilités de renforcer davantage la coopération franco-américaine en matière d'économie et de sécurité», précise-t-il. » | LeParisien.fr | vendredi 22 novembre 2013

François Hollande and the Bedroom Farce Paralysing France

THE SUNDAY TELEGRAPH: As a book scrutinises French president François Hollande’s personal life, his inability to stand up to his love interests is now threatening his administration

It started off like a French farce. Will it end up like a Greek tragedy? France’s “First Girlfriend”, Valérie Trierweiler, may well cause the political downfall of the man she fought so bitterly to catch – and still can’t get a marriage commitment from.

Five months after he was elected, François Hollande’s popularity figures are the lowest of any French president since Charles de Gaulle signed the 1962 treaty acknowledging the independence of Algeria after a bloody anti-colonialist war.

The general consensus is that Ms Trierweiler is one of the chief reasons why the Fifth Republic’s seventh president is seen as henpecked, inefficient and vacillating – in short, not in charge.

“The five women who make his life hell” was last week’s headline on news magazine L’Express. First on the list were the president’s partners, past and present: Ségolène Royal, the former presidential contender and mother of Hollande’s four children; and Valérie, the Paris-Match journalist who won Hollande from Royal.

The other three were former Socialist leader Martine Aubry, Green leader Cécile Duflot, and Angela Merkel: they would never have been qualified by gender if Hollande’s chaotic private life wasn’t the first subject of gossip and conjecture these days.

In this toxic environment came the revelations in La Frondeuse (“The Troublemaker”), a new biography published last Thursday by journalists Alix Bouilhaguet and Christophe Jakubyszyn, that while she was busy prying Hollande away from the home he’d been making with Royal for more than two decades, the (still-married) Trierweiler was three-timing – or should it be four-timing? – him with Patrick Devedjian, a former Sarkozyste cabinet minister. » | Anne-Elisabeth Moutet | Sunday, October 14, 2012

"Tweetgate" : Thomas Hollande est amer

EUROPE 1: Le fils du président dit que les propos rapportés par Le Point ont été - en partie - "déformés".

"Ce que je reproche au tweet, c’est d’avoir fait basculer la vie privée dans la vie publique". Dans un article du Point à paraître jeudi, Thomas Hollande semble avoir la dent dure contre Valérie Trierweiler et son tweet de soutien à Olivier Falorni, opposant de Ségolène Royal dans la bataille des législatives à La Rochelle.

Alors que la polémique est retombée depuis, le fils de François Hollande et de Ségolène Royal se dit aujourd'hui peiné par ce geste "hallucinant" de la Première dame et attristé pour son père. "Ça me fait de la peine pour mon père. Ça détruit l’image normale qu’il avait construite", estime-t-il, selon les termes rapportés par Le Point. Il accuse le magazine d'avoir déformé ses propos » | Par Hélène Favier | jeudi 12 juillet 2012

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WELT ONLINE: Die Krise der Patchwork-Familie im Élysée-Palast: Die Flitterwochen des französischen Präsidenten sind vorbei: Familiendramen und Job-Krisen trüben den Nationalfeiertag für François Hollande. Jetzt redet Sohn Thomas nicht mehr mit der First Lady. » | Von Sascha Lehnartz | Donnerstag, 12. Juli 2012

Francois Hollande's Son Launches Scathing Attack On Valerie Trierweiler

THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: The eldest son of Francois Hollande has launched a scathing attack on Valerie Trierweiler, the French president's partner, accusing her of destroying his father's "Mr Normal" image.

Thomas Hollande, a 27-year-old lawyer, criticised the way Ms Trierweiler, 48, has conducted herself since becoming first lady in May.

Ms Trierweiler caused outrage last month by expressing her support via Twitter for a politician standing against Segolene Royal, 58, in parliamentary elections.

Ms Royal is the former partner of Mr Hollande and the mother of their children – Thomas, Clemence, 25, Julien, 22, and Flora, 20.

Since the infamous tweet, Ms Royal lost the election, seen her career all but ended, and been widely ridiculed across France.

This led to President Hollande, 57, speaking to each of his children individually about the saga, but they all told him that they never wanted to see Ms Trierweiler again.

In comments to Le Point magazine, Thomas Hollande said his father had been "devastated" by the tweet and it had "cause him a lot of pain". » | Peter Allen, Paris | Wednesday, July 11, 2012

French President's Love-life 'Psychodrama' Rivals His Predecessor's
THE GUARDIAN: One tweet from François Hollande's partner threatens to bring the new president's 'normal' image crashing down

Once it seemed that Nicolas Sarkozy's public love-life sagas were hard to top: his marriage breakdown with Cécilia, her role as his political adviser, their ill-fated bling-encrusted presidential victory celebrations at the posh Fouquet's restaurant and on a billionaire's yacht. Then his reluctant, quickie divorce and speedy re-marriage to the supermodel Carla Bruni barely four months after meeting her. All this churned the stomachs of French voters and sent his popularity plunging to a nadir from which it never recovered.

But the Socialist François Hollande is now at the centre of a rival plotline. He had promised to be the anti-Sarkozy, a sober "Mr Normal" who was prudish about relationship matters and vowed that never again would France see such an outrageous mixing of public and private life.

But one tweet from his partner Valérie Trierweiler, in which she publicly took sides against Hollande's ex, Ségolène Royal, has threatened to bring the president's "normal" image crashing down. French media describe a dangerous love-life "psychodrama", in which the once-nerdy Socialist president is "sandwiched" between two jealous women from his present and past – a "dysfunctional trio" at the highest levels of the French state, said the leftwing Libération. Journalists describe a love-triangle in which there is so much animosity that on stage after Hollande's election as soon as he gave Royal the standard French peck-on-the-cheek, Trierweiler demanded: "Kiss me on the mouth."

This is not just embarrassing for Hollande. It threatens to damage his presidential standing and dent the Socialists' fortunes in crucial parliament elections this Sunday. Instead of asking whether the new French president can handle the euro-crisis or Syria, commentators and politicians are asking whether he can handle his relationships. » | Angelique Chrisafis in Paris | Wednesday, June 13, 2012