Cecilia blames divorce on her dislike of public life
“For him, it’s like a violinist who has been given a Stradivarius, suddenly he has the chance to practice his art,” she told L’Est Republicain regional daily in an interview published yesterday. “It’s not the same thing for me.”
Mr Sarkozy’s office announced on Thursday that the couple had ended their 11-year marriage, making Cecilia’s stint as “first lady” the shortest in French history.
“We tried everything, I tried everything. But it just wasn’t possible anymore. Public life doesn’t suit me,” she said in remarks that were noticeably free of any trace of bitterness.
“I am someone who likes to be in the shadows, who likes serenity, tranquility.”
Mr Sarkozy, who is still wearing his wedding ring, slapped down a question about his divorce during a news conference at the end of an EU summit in Portugal. “I was elected by the French people to find solutions to their problems, not to comment on my private life,” he said sharply. The French people were much less interested in his divorce than the media, he added.
“They are right and perhaps they also have more decency and more discretion and, dare I say it, a bit more elegance too.”
The confirmation of their divorce, after months of marital strife, knocked a major transport strike off the nation’s front pages.
The pair first separated in 2005 and Cecilia moved to New York to be with another man.
She returned to her husband the following year in an attempt to heal a rift that had caused Mr Sarkozy to lose weight, snap at staff and appear visibly shaken.
Some political rivals questioned his ability to govern under strain, such was Cecilia’s reputation as a calming influence over her hyperactive husband. Analysts have wondered whether his divorce could affect the president’s policymaking.
Cecilia confirmed she had not voted in May’s presidential run-off ballot because she felt out of sorts, but said she was delighted by her husband’s triumph.
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