[ 2014-01-11 ]

French President strays into new  danger on ‘scooter ride to a secret date’
François Hollande threatened to sue yesterday
over breach of privacy after he was revealed to be
having a secret affair with a French actress.
A seven-page article in Closer, a celebrity
weekly, plunged the Socialist President into the
sort of embarrassing personal controversy that he
had promised to avoid.
The magazine carried photographs of a man it
identified as Mr Hollande, 59, arriving as a
passenger on a motor scooter, allegedly to join
Julie Gayet, 41, a film star, for a nocturnal
encounter near the presidential palace. The
disclosure will put a strain on his relationship
with Valérie Trierweiler, France’s notoriously
jealous first lady, while raising questions about
his judgment.
The daily Le Parisien said last night that the
Élysée Palace was planning to clarify quickly Mr
Hollande’s “situation” with Ms Trierweiler.
It said that he wanted to resolve the issue before
his press conference scheduled for Tuesday.
A statement issued on his behalf said that he
“profoundly deplored a breach of the privacy to
which he has a right like any citizen”, but it
did not deny an affair with Gayet.
It added that he was considering how to respond to
Closer’s revelation, and said that he might take
legal action against the magazine. The statement
was issued in his own name and not by the office
of the presidency — suggesting that this was a
personal rather than a public matter.
Mr Hollande, who portrayed himself as a French
everyman during his 2012 election campaign, is
unlikely to face moral reprobation for an activity
that would be seen by most voters as banal.
Laurence Pieau, the editor of Closer, said: “He
is a normal person. This is a president who has a
heartthrob and an adventure. We really mustn’t
consider these pictures to be dramatic.”
Closer said last night it that it had been asked
by Gayet’s lawyer to remove the article about
her and Mr Hollande from its website, and that it
would “probably” do so.
“It is a very clear instruction,” Pieau said,
adding that neither Gayet nor the Élysée had
taken steps to have the magazine withdrawn from
newspaper kiosks. She said that Closer had not had
any contact with the presidency.
Closer, which in 2012 published topless
photographs of the Duchess of Cambridge, ran a
photograph of Gayet entering a flat belonging to
one of her friends at 10.48pm on December 30.
Thirty-six minutes later, a man described by the
magazine as a presidential security guard was
pictured checking the entrance hall to the flats.
One minute after that, a third photograph shows a
scooter pulling up outside the building. The
passenger, whose face is hidden by a helmet, is Mr
Hollande, according to Closer.
The passenger’s black shoes are the same as
those worn by Mr Hollande during a state visit to
Saudi Arabia the day before and when he met
Jean-Marc Ayrault, the Prime Minister, on January
3. According to Closer, he has only one pair of
shoes.
At 8.03am on December 31, the man alleged to be
the President’s bodyguard is shown taking a bag
of croissants into the building. Closer says they
were for Mr Hollande and his latest partner after
their night together.
The motorcycle is shown drawing away at 11.18am on
December 31 in a fifth photo. In this image, the
man beside the scooter is said to be identifiable
as Mr Hollande’s personal bodyguard.
Closer claims that the couple also spent the night
together on January 1.
Georges Fenech, a centre-right opposition MP, said
the photographs represented an “intolerable
slight” on the image of France and that the
President should consider resigning.
Rumours of a relationship have been swirling
around Paris for months. Last year Gayet issued a
statement denying that she was having an affair
with President Hollande and threatened to sue for
breach of privacy.
Speculation resurfaced last month when Antoine de
Caunes, a television presenter, asked her how she
was getting on with Mr Hollande. Stéphane
Guillon, a humourist participating in the show on
Canal Plus, burst out laughing and said that Mr
Hollande “loves” Gayet’s latest film, Les
Ames de Papier (Paper Souls) but that Ms
Trierweiler, to whom Mr Hollande is not married,
was less enthusiastic about it.
Gayet has two children with Santiago Amigorena,
her husband, an Argentine film director. Mr
Hollande has four children from his relationship
with Ségolène Royal, the Socialist politician
who was the party’s candidate in the 2007
presidential election.
He left Ms Royal for Ms Trierweiler, 48, about
seven years ago. His presidency has been damaged
by Ms Royal’s sniping at his Government, and by
Ms Trierweiler’s public attacks on her rival.
Neither Mr Hollande nor Gayet was available for
comment.
Closer’s report supports the view that the
French media is riding roughshod over France’s
increasingly fragile privacy laws. Times have
changed. Valéry Giscard d’Estaing, President
between 1971 and 1981, François Mitterrand, who
succeeded him, and Jacques Chirac (1995-2007),
enjoyed varied love lives without voters ever
knowing.

Source - The Times(UK)

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