France isn’t a betting country, but when Nicolas Sarkozy and Carla Bruni decided to get married in 2008, after a two-month courtship, many people were already starting to guess the likely divorce date.
These two, the siren supermodel and the twice-married “President BlingBling” – a nickname given to him by the press due to his fondness for Rolex watches, gold-rimmed aviator sunglasses and hobnobbing with moguls – were publicity hounds, the perceived wisdom went. She loved power, he loved young women. It would never last.
“She’ll drop him if he loses in 2012,” a politician friend told me knowingly (Republican Sarkozy ending up losing the presidential election to his Socialist opponent François Hollande denying him a second term in office).
“His roving eye will find someone else the minute she’s off to have Botox,” a Republican party grandee smugly predicted at a dinner party.
Thirteen years, one presidency and two election defeats (in 2012, and in the 2017 Republican primaries) later, and Bruni and Sarkozy are still married and, by all accounts, closer than ever. This is despite them facing the ultimate relationship test: a string of legal challenges brought about, Sarkozy claims, by “activist judges”, all of which he has strongly denied.
None of the investigations, of which there have been half a dozen, have ever come to anything – that is, until earlier this year when the former president’s luck ran out and he was finally convicted of trying to bribe a judge in 2014, two years after he left power.
هذه القصة مأخوذة من طبعة 12 August 2021 من YOU South Africa.
ابدأ النسخة التجريبية المجانية من Magzter GOLD لمدة 7 أيام للوصول إلى آلاف القصص المتميزة المنسقة وأكثر من 8500 مجلة وصحيفة.
بالفعل مشترك ? تسجيل الدخول
هذه القصة مأخوذة من طبعة 12 August 2021 من YOU South Africa.
ابدأ النسخة التجريبية المجانية من Magzter GOLD لمدة 7 أيام للوصول إلى آلاف القصص المتميزة المنسقة وأكثر من 8500 مجلة وصحيفة.
بالفعل مشترك? تسجيل الدخول
MR COOL
Rocker Lenny Kravitz has just turned 60-and he's as much of a sex symbol as ever
LAST RALLY FOR RAFA
Nadal's early exit from RolandGarros calls into question his Grand Slam future. We look back at his smash-hit career
BEYOND THE MOUSTACHE
Tom Selleckon Magnum, peta Oe handsome for Hollywood and why he wishes people would realise theres mor to him than his famous facial hair
HOPE FOR DEMENTIA
More than 55 million people worldwide live with dementia and it's estimated this number will double every 20 years. But researchers believe there's light at the end of the tunnel
HE'S GOT THE X-FACTOR!
Eric's record-breaking collection of X-Men memorabilia is worth a small fortune
MADE FROM SCRATCH
Every morsel of food Nara feeds her family is homemade - but not everyone is impressed
INNOCENT'S GOT TALENT
South African tenor wins hearts in London with his impressive opera skills
'NOBODY LISTENED'
These sisters say they were sexually abused 50 years ago by family friends - and they want their day in court
THE PEOPLE HAVE SPOKEN
The votes have been cast, counted and announced, but is South Africa ready for a new government? The experts think so
A LOW PROFILE
Cancer-stricken Kate isn't rushing her return to public life but behind the scenes she's keeping busy with work and family life