The presidential couple confirm the split after his indiscretions are leaked in the press

Jan 27, 2014 09:44 GMT  ·  By
French President Francois Hollande confirms his split from wife Valerie Trierweiler after cheating rumors emerge
   French President Francois Hollande confirms his split from wife Valerie Trierweiler after cheating rumors emerge

It was a field day for French media when it was uncovered that their president, Francois Hollande, had a secret love affair with a 41-year-old actress by the name of Julie Gayet. Now, the curtain has come down over the relationship between the French president Hollande and his longtime partner, Lady Valerie Trierweiler.

Initially, Hollande slammed the rumors that he had been unfaithful to his partner and threatened with legal action against the French magazine Closer that first broke the story with a cover-story called “The President's Secret Love.”

In it, they presented photos of a scooter-riding president leaving the home of actress Julie Gayet after a sleepover which caused national uproar. After the news broke out of the president's affair, the First Lady announced that she would spend a week in the hospital.

Now, Hollande decided to end the matters in the most official way possible, by calling Agence France-Presse himself and confirming his split with estranged Trierweiler. “I wish to make it known that I have ended my partnership with Trierweiler,” the president AFP, hinting that the split was a mutual decision.

The First Lady remained oddly quiet about this “mutual” decision. Her only words on her Twitter account were addressed to the staff of the Elysee palace hospital, to whom she expressed her gratitude: “I will never forget their devotion or the emotion of the moment of departure.”

Previously, the president had announced a formal meeting with the press to address the issue on February 11, when he was supposed to make a state visit to Washington, but daily scandals in the press forced him to clear up matters sooner.

There was talk that his love nest was actually linked with the Corsican mafia, rumors that the First Lady caused $4million (€2,9 million) in damages as she went into a jealous rage in the presidential office and rumors that President was now supporting his wife's Indian charity to overcome malnutrition with state funds in order to elicit her forgiveness.

Hollande now becomes the second French president to become abachelor while in office, after his predecessor Nicolas Sarkozy famously divorced his second wife Cecilia in October 2007, right after he'd won the election. He went on to have an affair with model and pop singer Carla Bruni.