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Cecilia


letrangere
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Am I looking in the wrong place or is no one on here interested in Mme Sarkozy?  Most of my friends in France (French or otherwise) are fascinated by her, men and women alike.  No one here concerned that the First Lady isn't quite pulling her weight, shouldn't really be acting as hubby's personal envoy, declining invites to eat hot dogs with ruler of the world, had a bad face lift???
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Reminds me of the song "Cecilia, you're breaking my heart, you're shaking my confidence daily." I think it's refreshing that she's not getting carried away by the opportunity for celebrity that her position could give her. Because she's hardly ever in the picture with Sarkozy it's difficult to form an opinion about her. Did she go with him to the USA? Or just miss the formal dinner - don't blame her.
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Pat and Clair, I'm with you.  Why, just because you are married to somebody, are you expected to become part of their world and their job?  In fact, I find it quite maddening that somebody's ability in any walk of life is judged in any way by the merits or otherwise of their o/h's.  They possibly have lives of their own which are just as important to them as what their partners get up to in their day jobs.
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I am quite interested in Cecilia.  Or maybe it would be more accurate to say that I am interested in how the French people I know and the French media "deal" with her.  There is obviously an expectation of the "proper behaviour" for a wife of The President that is elusive and complicated, although present.  Parenthetically, I am sorry Sego lost since I was REALLY looking forward to how they would deal with a "husband".  Cecelia is clearly trying to carve out some kind of life for herself and her family, for five or ten years, that does not involve the two main options that seem to be open to a  wife of a president if you look at the French media and talk to people.  Also that does not involve hanging out with her husband's mates all the time.  She seems to have two main choices.  One is to pick a totally innocuous, but "good deed" type project (like "pieces jaunes") which everyone approves of, and work on that, while accompanying her husband to many, although not all public engagements.  This shows that they are a normal couple and happy with each other.  A model to us all and to foreign visitors.  The other option might be to become virtually invisible, and carry on living the life that you lived "before", just staying out of it all.  Like the Welsh wife of the Prime Minister.  We won't hear much about her.  Those two options seem not to suit Cecelia, so she stands out, and the French have no idea what to make of her.  Therefore she is interesting to them.  Mind you, the French media even get interested in Francois Hollande's new main squeeze, after Sego dumped him.   And Hollande has to be the most boring politician I can remember.

While I have never heard anyone claim she is anything like, or related to, a feminist (unlike Sego), she is something of an "independent woman", and clearly not under the orders of Sarko.  He can't tell her what to do.  He can't get her to turn up when he wants to have a woman at his side, even for an informal breakfast with the President of the World and his First Lady, who DID turn up and alwyas DOES turn up.  And although it is not mentioned much, that includes sleeping with other men.  Even going off with one.  So you can see my interest is not only a superficial gossipy one (I admit I love gossip, for me its what glues society together), but that I am dead curious how the French deal with her.  In general, I find France to be way worse than Britain in terms of general feminist/women's awareness or influence.

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[quote user="Russethouse"]

This shows that they are a normal couple and happy with each other. 

Isn't the gossip that this is not the case ?

[/quote]

Yes, everyone knows they are not a perfect couple and they are not happy with the relationship.  That was my point, Cecelia has NOT chosen that option of "keeping up appearances", even if the President of the World invites them to lunch.  She clearly wants to do something that is unexpected and not orthodox.  I say more power to her.

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I suppose what I find most interesting is the coverage this woman’s getting, not just in France but worldwide. I guess it’s because she’s has more to offer the modern media than Bernadette Chirac but it’s also an indication of how the media in France has changed in recent years.  Not sure I buy the argument that what her husband does for a living shouldn’t affect her.  They met when he was mayor of Neiully so it’s not as if his political ambitions are a recent thing.  She’s intelligent and must have realized that if you marry a politician a lot of possibly unwelcome baggage comes with it.  Can’t say I blame her for not wanting to go a barbeque with the Bush’s but there are many people (at home, elsewhere in Europe as well in the US) who believe she should have done, or at least not been seen out shopping the next day after crying off sick..  Some even go so far as to say they feel her absence reflected badly on France.  Sarko’s really turned the country’s image around since his election, I think it’s a shame that his efforts could possibly be undermined.
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If they had had drifted into a comfortable arrangement of having rather separate lives (or an arrangement[;-)]) I guess this has been  unwelcome for her - she probably had a very pleasant life before and doesn't value the so called kudos of her new position.

Whats the French equivalent of 'England expects '?[:)]

 

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l'etrangere, I love the idea that just because you know what your husband does for a living when you marry him, you have to buy into his career!  Hopefully, (and it looks as if this is the case) he was aware that she wasn't the type of person who would toe this kind of line when he married her, too.

As for Hillary, she's smart enough to know that it doesn't matter where your political advantage comes from, you have to play all the cards you have, and there's no getting away from the fact that Bill is one of hers.  He, unlike Cecilia, shares his wife's ambitions and will play his part.  For myself, I don't really care what the motivation is for voting for her, just so long as the US population elects her.  She appears to be tough enough to be able to cope with the fall-out in R/H's scenario.  You go girl.

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Apparently it makes little or no reference to his marriage or Cecilia (an interesting omission) but friends telling me last night I must read, "L'Aube, le Soir ou la Nuit" by Yasmina Reza (the playwright), a fascinating account of Sarko's first few months in office.  It's even being tipped to win the Goncourt.
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I suppose that anyone reading this must be interested in partners of the great political leaders of France.  So if anyone wants to know who is the new main squeeze of Francois Hollande Google Valérie Trierweiler.  She is one reason why Sego got pissed off at Francois and dumped him. 

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I think it's very romantic-in-a-french-type-way that M & Mme Sarko met when Nicolas officiated at her first wedding.  Have either of them gone on record to discuss the frisson of love/lust that did or didn't sparkle way back then?

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