Saturday, March 13, 2010
FRENCH President Nicolas Sarkozy said yesterday he did not have half a second to lose on media speculation about the state of his marriage to supermodel-turned-popstar Carla Bruni-Sarkozy.
Rumours have swept the internet and press this week that Sarkozy and Bruni, who married in 2008 after a whirlwind romance, were both having extra-marital affairs. Bruni has said her husband would never cheat on her.
Asked by a French journalist to comment on the rumours during a joint press conference with British Prime Minister Gordon Brown in London, Sarkozy looked distinctly unimpressed.
The French premierrebuked the journalist for his "idiotic" question.
"I don’t even know why you use your speaking time to put such an idiotic question," he said.
"You clearly don’t know how busy a president of the republic is, but I don’t have a second to lose with this kind of ridiculous rubbish — not even half a second," he added.
"I’m wondering why you are wasting your time asking me such a question."
Brown, who in recent weeks has been forced to deny a barrage of media reports alleging that he had bullied his staff, came to Sarkozy’s rescue.
"I’ve been able to tell Nicolas that I don’t believe everything I read in the British press," he joked, eliciting a smile from the French president and a chuckle from reporters.
Sarkozy then sought to close the discussion.
"I love England, please don’t make me regret it," he said.
Undeterred, one of the British journalists raised the issue again, asking Sarkozy whether he wished to seize the opportunity to deny the rumours. A stony-faced Sarkozy ignored the question completely, and Brown hastily ushered his guest out of the room.
The mainstream French media has largely ignored the reports, although one newspaper has claimed they were the result of a hoax by a journalism student who wanted to see how far the rumour would spread.
However, newspapers and broadcasters in some other countries have felt less constrained in referring to the claims, which remain unverified.
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