Cecilia Chats About the End of Her Marriage

French first lady admits affair, says she wanted out of public eye
By Zach Samalin,  Newser Staff
Posted Oct 19, 2007 5:36 PM CDT
Cecilia Chats About the End of Her Marriage
France's president Nicolas Sarkozy's wife Cecilia comes back from the private beach of the presidential vacation residence of Fort Bregancon, near Bormes-Les-Mimosas, southern France, in this May 19, 2007 file photo. Sarkozy and his wife, Cecilia, are separating by mutual consent, the French president's...   (Associated Press)

Cecilia Sarkozy told L'Est Republicain today that although she had "tried everything" to avoid divorce, her relationship with the French president wouldn't work. "France elected a man, not a couple," she said. Mme. Sarkozy confessed for the first time publicly that she fell in love with another man in 2005; when she went off to be with him, she felt the punishing glare of the spotlight and realized it was not for her. "I am someone who likes the shadows, serenity, tranquility.”

The couple will share custody of their 10-year old son, the New York Times reports; Mme. Sarkozy will move out of the Elysee Palace into their apartment in Neuilly. Nicolas Sarkozy was a little less chatty: "My state of mind is very simple: I was elected by the French people to solve their problems, not comment on my private life," he chastised reporters. (More Cecilia Sarkozy stories.)

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