Bruni 'sorry' for comparing critics to anti-Semitic collaborators

News in pictures
News in pictures
On Facebook
From the blogs

GCSEs are a pointless waste of time

A few facts. Last year almost 70% of 16 year olds achieved at least 5 GCSE passes with grades A*-C. ...

Asylum seekers: When the questions tell us so much more than the answers

For the last four years I've been paying my karmic dues (I would say "contributing to the big societ...

Thanks to The Sun, for enriching each of our lives

Those at the super-soaraway Sun are, yet again, making outlandish claims that they’ve changed the wo...

Ones to watch: Aiden Grimshaw to Hey Sholay

With so much new music coming out it’s difficult to keep track of what’s out there. It’s a lucky dip...

The new French first lady, Carla Bruni-Sarkozy, apologised yesterday for comparing a magazine website to French collaborators who "denounced Jews" during the 1939-45 war.

In her first interview since her marriage 11 days ago, the Franco-Italian pop singer stumbled unnecessarily into one of the most sensitive issues in recent French history. However, she recovered, and gained considerable credit, by making an almost instant apology.

In an interview with the magazine L'Express, Mme Bruni-Sarkozy, 40, complained about the behaviour of a rival news magazine, Le Nouvel Observateur. Last week, the magazine's website published a copy of what it claimed was a text message from M. Sarkozy to his divorced wife, Cécilia, eight days M.Sarkozy was to marry Mme Bruni.

Le Nouvel Observateur said M. Sarkozy had offered to "drop everything" if his former wife returned to him. M. Sarkozy has since denounced the story as false and started a legal action against the magazine for "forgery" and, puzzlingly, "receiving stolen goods".

In her interview with L'Express, Mme Bruni-Sarkozy accused Le Nouvel Observateur – an intelligent centre-left magazine – of stooping to the level of the "Presse people" or celebrity press. Then she went on: "If these types of website had existed during the war, how many denunciations of Jews would there have been?"

The editor of Nouvel Observateur, Michel Labro, protested that no one should "play with" accusations based on such a dark period in history. He accused Mme Bruni-Sarkozy of being "perfectly stupid".

The first lady immediately placed a statement on the L'Express website admitting that the comment was a "mistake". "If I upset anyone, I am extremely sorry," she said. "I just wanted to say how badly I view these personal attacks, which degrade reporting."

In the remainder of her interview with L'Express, Mme Bruni-Sarkozy addressed the anxiety of many older, conservative voters about her marriage to the President. She rejected the suggestion that the wedding – three months after they met and four months after the President's divorce – was hasty. "What happened between Nicolas and me was not quick, it was immediate. So for us, [getting married after three months] seemed rather slow."

The new first lady also returned to her comment – made a year ago before she met M. Sarkozy – that she found "monogamy deadly boring". That was when she was single, she implied. Marriage was different. "I am Italian in spirit and I don't like divorce. I will therefore be the first lady until my husband leaves office and his wife until death... That is my wish."

The Sarkozy-Bruni love affair and marriage has coincided with – and, pollsters say, helped to cause – a decline in the President's popularity. Mme Bruni-Sarkozy attempted in her interview to explain one of the incidents in the French press.

When the couple went on holiday to Egypt and Jordan in December, M. Sarkozy was pictured with her six-year-old son, Aurélien, on his shoulders. The boy was hiding his face in apparent embarrassment. Mme Bruni-Sarkozy said that it had been a "big error" to bring her son and a "mistake" to ask him to hide his face so he would not be recognised in the photographs.

Independent Comment
blog comments powered by Disqus
Career Services

Day In a Page

'I may be deaf, but you can still talk to me'

'I may be deaf, but you can still talk to me'

Being a teenager is hard enough – for those with hearing loss, it can be even more complicated
A right royal trip down the river

A right royal trip down the river

A new exhibition celebrates the glory days of London's mighty Thames
The 10 Best lawn mowers

The 10 Best lawn mowers

From petrol-fuelled to self-propelled
Every second counts

Why does life appear to speed up as we get older?

Matilda Battersby finds out how the clock plays tricks with our minds
Couture on the Croisette: Fashion hits

Couture on the Croisette

The best outfits from the 2012 Cannes Film Festival
Child of the revolution: the Burmese family that democracy brought back together

Home of the free

The Burmese family that democracy brought back together
Cannes review: Canine accolade and Hitler's return are high spots amid the gloom

Cannes review

Frocks, canine accolade and Hitler's return
Robert Fisk: The going price of getting away with murder... would $33m be enough?

The going price of getting away with murder

Robert Fisk: The long view
Principled Skinner rises above the fray

Principled Skinner rises above the fray

Andy McSmith meets Dennis Skinner
Patrick Cockburn: I fear this terrible massacre will be the beginning of a long civil war in Syria

Patrick Cockburn

I fear this terrible massacre will be the beginning of a long civil war in Syria
Hardeep Singh Kohli: For me, it is all about 'Gregory's Girl', a record of first love

Hardeep Singh Kohli

For me, it is all about 'Gregory's Girl', a record of first love
Christian Louboutin: 'I don't think comfort equals happiness'

Christian Louboutin interview

'I don't think comfort equals happiness'
Happy birthday, Hotel Babylon!

Happy birthday, Hotel Babylon!

Hollywood's home to the A-list celebrates 100 years of discreet luxury
Rupert Cornwell: Low-rise capital could finally reach for the sky

Rupert Cornwell: Out of America

Low-rise capital could finally reach for the sky
The secret life of the red carpet

The secret life of the red carpet

As Cannes reaches its climax with the Palme d'Or and the celebrities gather in London for the Baftas tonight, Kate Youde and Jack Dean investigate the real star of the show