{"id":75771,"date":"2014-09-10T23:24:06","date_gmt":"2014-09-10T13:24:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/theproject.com.au\/myfrenchlife\/?p=75771"},"modified":"2014-09-11T14:41:38","modified_gmt":"2014-09-11T04:41:38","slug":"french-scandals-valerie-trierweiler","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/theproject.com.au\/myfrenchlife\/2014\/09\/10\/french-scandals-valerie-trierweiler\/","title":{"rendered":"French scandals: Val\u00e9rie Trierweiler tells all – but should she have?"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"MyFrenchLife\u2122<\/a><\/b>As a French native used to listening to English conversations, it has always amused me that the English language is peppered with French expressions such as \u2018m\u00e9nage \u00e0 trois<\/em>\u2019 or \u2018femme fatale<\/em>\u2019. Too often, \u2018we\u2019, the French, are easily perceived through that deformed linguistic prism: we are assumed to be the masters of love, seduction and extra-marital affairs!<\/b><\/p>\n

However, since 4 September, I\u2019ve begun to believe that there might be some truth to this observation: this was the day when France\u2019s bookstores were inundated by copies of the former First Lady\u00a0<\/span>Val\u00e9rie Trierweiler\u2019s<\/a> book \u2018Merci pour le Moment<\/em>\u2019.\u00b9<\/p>\n

The publication of this tell-all book, worthy of Barbara Cartland<\/a> (the prolific English romance novelist), is hopefully the final stage of a story that, in the opinion of this French citizen and perplexed spectator, started seven years ago. <\/span><\/p>\n

A seven-year French saga<\/span><\/h3>\n

The current presidential mandate was predestined from the start to be a public and private life mash-up. In June 2007, S\u00e9gol\u00e8ne Royal\u2019s<\/a> break-up with Fran\u00e7ois Hollande<\/a> was officially announced after she had lost the presidential race against Nicolas Sarkozy<\/a>. The French learned in the tabloids that Hollande had been cheating on her with a political journalist from Paris Match<\/a>, Val\u00e9rie Trierweiler, and that she was his new companion.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"MyFrenchLife\u2122<\/p>\n

Thankfully, Nicolas Sarkozy\u2019s divorce and remarriage<\/span><\/a> within the first year of his presidency made the French forget about the unlucky contender and her private life. But change had already come. The French presidential statute had lost some of its untouchable aura. People considered G\u00e9n\u00e9ral de Gaulle or Fran\u00e7ois Mitterrand (who had, against all odds, managed to conceal his double life and his daughter Mazarine<\/a>) to be figures of a bygone age.<\/span><\/p>\n

In May 2011, Dominique Strauss-Kahn\u2019s<\/a> incredible arrest<\/span><\/a> in New York and global lynching in the media<\/span><\/a> ruled him out of being the next French socialist candidate for the 2012 Presidential Election although the polls were in his favor. As a matter of fact, Fran\u00e7ois Hollande, ironically, became the candidate by default. He probably had this scandal in mind too when he made the solemn promise to be \u2018a normal president\u2019.<\/span><\/p>\n

A normal French President with an exposed private life <\/span><\/h3>\n

That sense of normality quickly vanished when Val\u00e9rie Trierweiler\u2019s tweet against S\u00e9gol\u00e8ne Royal<\/span><\/a> made it clear she had a grudge against the mother of her companion\u2019s four children.\u00b2 <\/span><\/p>\n

\"JacquilineDubois0\"It was devastating for her image which she then tried rather unsuccessfully to make amiable until the \u2018Julie Gayet-gate\u2019 last January. The incident<\/a>, in which Fran\u00e7ois Hollande was caught by tabloid photographers visiting his young mistress, actress Julie Gayet<\/a> –\u00a0<\/span>on a scooter no less – led to Trierweiler’s\u00a0quick and unexpected repudiation. This won her over in the hearts of many, who would not have wished such humiliation to their worst enemy.<\/span><\/p>\n

Little did the French people know that the worst was yet to come\u2026<\/span><\/p>\n

All the world\u2019s a stage<\/span><\/h3>\n

French public opinion today on the saga is divided. Most journalists and politicians think this book is trashy and won\u2019t read it. However many French people who don\u2019t belong to the 13% that\u00a0still support the President<\/a>, argue it highlights the dark sides of his personality and that the people should be informed about it. Either way, the book topped Amazon France<\/a>‘s bestsellers list in its first week.\u00a0A whole nation has nonetheless become the obliged spectator of a show that disparages the Presidential function.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"MyFrenchLife\u2122<\/a><\/p>\n

I don\u2019t intend to be judgemental (it would be another debate entirely) but obviously, as of today, a tragic drama is being played at Palais de l\u2019Elys\u00e9e and a former First Lady is getting the royalties.<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/h2>\n

Do you think Val\u00e9rie Trierweiler should have waited until the end of Fran\u00e7ois Hollande\u2019s five-year mandate before publishing her book?\u00a0Or was she justified?<\/strong> Join the debate in the comments below, or on Twitter<\/a>!<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/h2>\n
Remarks <\/span>
\n1. There is no such official statute in France as \u2018First Lady\u2019. She is usually referred to as \u2018the President\u2019s wife\u2019. Since President Hollande was not married to\u00a0Val\u00e9rie Trierweiler, she was his ‘companion’.<\/span>
\n2. Valerie Trierweiler\u2019s famous tweet occurred in June 2012 for the General Elections.\u00a0<\/span>She gave her official support to S\u00e9gol\u00e8ne Royal\u2019s opponent in the Socialist Party who defeated her.<\/span><\/address>\n
Image credits<\/span>
\n1. Val\u00e9rie<\/a> by Parti Socialiste, via Flickr.<\/span>
\n2. Fran\u00e7ois Hollande<\/a> by Fran\u00e7ois Hollande, via Flickr.<\/span>
\n3. Julie Gayet Cannes 2014<\/a>\u00a0by Georges Biard, via Flickr.<\/span>
\n4. Palais de l’Elys\u00e9e<\/a> by Thomas Faivre-Duboz, via Flickr.<\/span><\/address>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Should Val\u00e9rie Trierweiler have told us everything there was to know?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":927,"featured_media":75773,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_editorskit_title_hidden":false,"_editorskit_reading_time":0,"_editorskit_is_block_options_detached":false,"_editorskit_block_options_position":"{}","footnotes":""},"categories":[1120,1119],"tags":[388,393,1176,124,213,220,225,229,230,235,249,281,353,387],"class_list":["post-75771","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news-and-beyond","category-reportage-and-societe","tag-politics","tag-president-of-france","tag-french-politics","tag-books-in-french","tag-france","tag-french","tag-french-books","tag-french-elections","tag-french-facts","tag-french-government","tag-french-president","tag-in-english","tag-news","tag-politicians"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/theproject.com.au\/myfrenchlife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/75771","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/theproject.com.au\/myfrenchlife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/theproject.com.au\/myfrenchlife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theproject.com.au\/myfrenchlife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/927"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theproject.com.au\/myfrenchlife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=75771"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/theproject.com.au\/myfrenchlife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/75771\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theproject.com.au\/myfrenchlife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/75773"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/theproject.com.au\/myfrenchlife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=75771"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theproject.com.au\/myfrenchlife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=75771"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theproject.com.au\/myfrenchlife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=75771"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}