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PRESIDENT FRANCOIS HOLLANDE’S partner emerged from a week’s stay in hospital yesterday as the French leader faced calls to clear up his personal life after revelations he had an affair.
De facto First Lady Valerie Trierweiler, who was admitted to hospital on 10 January suffering from nervous exhaustion and low blood pressure, left the hospital yesterday afternoon, a source in her office told AFP.
The source said she had gone directly from the Pitie-Salpetriere hospital to a presidential residence in Versailles where she will “rest for a few days”.
Trierweiler said on Twitter later yesterday that she had been ”very touched” by messages of support during her hospital stay.
Concern had been mounting for Trierweiler, 48, after she took ill following the revelation that Hollande, 59, had been having an affair with 41-year-old actress Julie Gayet.
On a visit yesterday to his political stronghold of Correze in central France, Hollande again did not comment on the revelations, focusing instead on local issues in a speech in the town of Tulle.
But even longtime allies were saying the president needs to deal with the scandal.
“France’s political situation requires all of the president’s attention and all of his time, so obviously it would be best for everyone if he can resolve the problems in his personal life under good conditions,” said Tulle Mayor Bernard Combes, a member of Hollande’s Socialist party.
French President Francois Hollande delivering a speech on Friday [Michel Euler/AP/Press Association Images]
At restaurant La Taverne du Sommelier, where Hollande has a permanent table, owner Cecile At said the president needed to put the scandal behind him.
“Francois Hollande is a very friendly man but Madame (Trierweiler) kept her distance, she did not seek people out,” At said.
“The time has come for our president to make decisions on his personal life and for the debate to be closed — that there be no more rumours or photos.”
Hollande has said he will clarify his relationship with Trierweiler before a trip to Washington next month but has refused any further comment on a scandal that has generated global headlines.
In his first trip outside Paris since the scandal broke, Hollande focused mainly on rural issues, saying he opposed calls to do away with some local administrations.
There was rare media interest for the trip to regional France, with dozens of French and foreign reporters descending on the small community for Hollande’s speech.
On previous trips to the region Hollande had regularly visited the Tulle market — often accompanied by Trierweiler — but he skipped it this time.
Closer
Reports have emerged that Hollande took Gayet to the Tulle market during his last visit to the region in July and that celebrity magazines are hunting for a photograph of the two allegedly taken at the time.
Closer magazine reported last week that Hollande had been having secret trysts with Gayet and published photographs of the pair arriving separately at a borrowed flat near his official residence, the Elysee Palace.
The scandal overshadowed a major policy speech by Hollande vowing new economic reforms and raised questions about whether he had misled the public or put his personal security at risk.
Hollande’s failure to visit his partner until Thursday evening fuelled speculation that he has decided to end the relationship with Trierweiler, for whom he left Segolene Royal, the mother of his four children, in 2005.
In a follow-up story, Closer depicted Hollande’s romance with Gayet as more than a brief fling, saying it had possibly started “two years ago”.
But it offered little in the way of concrete evidence and no pictures to back up its account.
Damages
Gayet is seeking damages of €50,000 from the magazine on the grounds that its first report was an illegal breach of her privacy. A trial date has been set for March 6.
Hollande has not denied the magazine’s report and has ruled out any legal action on his own behalf.
Public reaction to the scandal has been more muted than would be expected in countries like the Ireland, the United States or Britain.
A poll by BVA for i-Tele released yesterday showed 75 percent of respondents agreed that Hollande was right not to answer questions on his personal life, and 62 percent believed the affair was a private matter of no public concern.
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I so would
The guy must be hang like a donkey because it sure isn’t his face they are going for……..
Or his dyed head.
or his lifts.
Mao: “I want to know your secret”
Kissinger: “My secret, Mr President?”
Mao: “How a fat man gets so many girls?”
Kissinger: “Power, Mr. Chairman, is the ultimate aphrodisiac.”
-Stone’s Nixon(1995)
Why is this news?
We all already know politicians have no integrity, no sense of honesty or even loyalty.
Riveting stuff ! Just joking
Sexy biatch tbf
A standing Mickey has no conscience…
Classy bird
Why thank you kind sir,one tries one’s best.
and spread legs, apparently to feminists, have no blame.
Maybe Ms Trierweiler should ask the only class act in this sorry tale, Segolene Royal for advice.
How is this any of our business and since when is Closer magazine a valid source of information? I’m seriously concerned about the integrity of the Irish media at the moment.
The role of the media is to report the news.
The reader then decides if it is any of their business or not.
Ms Trierweiler is on the French taxpayer dime and is/was designated First lady of France.
Ah now California don’t be so naive, you really think the media is that impartial? Come on now…
About as impartial as you
I will decide what is newsworthy for me.
if you don’t want to read about it, then don’t click on the link but you don’t get to decide what others can read.
Don’t be ridiculous I’m not deciding what others can read, I’m merely stating that its fodder news and as I said it makes me doubt the integrity of our media, especially when there is a lot not being reported on that, to me, is much more important.. This is a bigger issue than Hollande and his affairs and if you don’t see that well there’s not much I can do about it.
Fodder news?
The integrity of a leader? A cheat? Someone who leaves the mother of his three children?
The media’s integrity is always doubted when it’s a story you don’t like to hear or a belief you had, gets challenged.
You are also describing a false choice. Stories that matter(subjective) are reported. The reporting of one does not stop the reporting of another.
“bigger issue than Hollande and his affairs ”
‘Their’ affairs. There was two in the bed.
“if you don’t see that well there’s not much I can do about it.”
Oh please, Bill Burr’s “If you can’t do the math on that…”
“Stories that matter are reported.” That’s the most naive statement about the media I’ve ever heard. Stories that sell are reported. Seriously California…
You are through the looking glass, Rosy.
Nice tin hat btw.
Your wan is a bit of a ride.
1 woman should be more than enough for any man. He must be a sucker for punishment.
I’ll bang her if he doesn’t want to.
Hollande only has one mistress. We are all being screwed by Irish Politicians!
What is it that makes Hollande irresistible?
I’m gonna guess his millions… ;)
He isn’t a millionaire though.
He’s a career politician & though comfortable, he’s not super rich.
I guess he has a tongue that never tires.
Sure all she would have to do is talk french !
If Hollande is as dedicated to the wellbeing of the citizens of France, as he is to fulfilling his personal sexual appetite on a a-la-carte basis, does he turn up in a motor cycle helmet to screw them too?
Pig
Did you just walk past a mirror?
Harsh. Trierweiler is not that bad.
The French don’t care what others get up to in their personal lives. Nor do I.
you clicked on a linked to a story and commented.
You care, you simply don’t like the fact that you do.
No. I don’t care and I clicked on it so as to post what I did.
Would you like my browser history too? There’s plenty of links in there I don’t care about.
Sarcozy is behind all this
I thought the French were all liberal and open minded to the extent that affairs are mandatory. Wouldnt have expected the wife to get in a tizzy over it, sure its normal there.
have your say