Sarkozy And Carla`s Affairs

RUMOURS that French President Nicolas Sarkozy and First Lady Carla Bruni are BOTH having affairs are gaining momentum in France.

The suggestion that France`s First couple were both committing adultery first emerged on networking site Twitter.

And it has now even been reported by prestigious Sunday newspaper Le Journal du Dimanche.

The first `tweet` revealed that Bruni had allegedly become romantically involved with Benjamin Biolay, a musician and a winner at France`s recent Victoires de la Musique` awards.

It went on the say that jilted President Sarkozy had swiftly found solace in the arms of his 40-year-old ecology minister Chantal Jouanno, also a French karate champion.

French web magazine suchablog.com then reported that Bruni had been a close friend of Biolay for many years and was now unofficially living with him at his flat in Paris.

The rumours were given extra weight after being reported in an blog on Sunday newspaper Le Journal du Dimanche`s official website.

The paper wrote: "It`s the gossip of the moment that could become the story of the year.

"A romance is said to have started a few weeks ago between the First Lady of France and music award winner Benjamin Biolay.

"The rumour started on Twitter and is now on blogs and websites everywhere."

The paper went on to say that according to the suchablog site, it was now "much more than a rumour".

Le Journal added: "It says the presidential marriage is breathing its last breaths. Carla Bruni is in love with Benjamin Biolay and the President has found solace with Chantal Jouanno."

The same story has also been reported by other established news sites including Yahoo News France, Le Post and Agoravoxtv, as well as TV news channel i-Tele.

It is the first time since Bruni and Sarkozy met at a Paris dinner party in November 2007 that there have been suggestions the marriage is in crisis.

For several months after their whirlwind romance and marriage three months later, regular reports predicted the marriage would only last as long as Sarkozy remained President.

Bruni`s now notorious remark that she is "easily bored by monogamy" is also frequently quoted by the media.

But not until now has any otherwise creditable news source repeated internet rumours that either of them was cheating.

Sarkozy and Bruni have both been widely rumoured to have had affairs in the past.

Bruni - whose string of previous lovers includes Mick Jagger, Eric Clapton and Donald Trump - is said to have started a relationship with writer Jean-Paul Enthoven, before dumping him for his philosopher son Raphael.

After having a son, Aurelien, in 2001, Raphael then left Bruni stating he felt she was "uncommitted to the relationship".

Sarkozy is reported to have had an affair with second wife Cecilia Ciganer-Albaniz while married to his first wife Marie-Dominique Culioli - the mother of his two sons.

He then married Ciganer-Albaniz, but they split during his presidential election campaign in 2007 when she started having an affair with US publicist Richard Attais.

Sarkozy`s press spokesman at the Elysee Palace in Paris said yesterday he had "absolutely no comment" to make on the rumours.

sections: World News, Celebrities