Archive

Carla Bruni

A new French book is rocking the country with its indiscreet stories of the first lady’s famous string of lovers and complicated relationship with Nicolas Sarkozy. Eric Pape reads the book for the 12 biggest revelations.

galleries/2010/09/14/carla-bruni/carla-bruni---mick-jagger_dl5guq
John Spellman / Retna ,© John Spellman / Retna Ltd.
galleries/2010/09/14/carla-bruni/carla-bruni---mick-jagger_neky1z

Before Nicolas Sarkozy, Mick Jagger was Bruni's most famous conquest. In the new book she explains how discreet they were: "My secret encounter with Mick Jagger lasted eight years. We passed through all of the capitals on earth and no photographer ever surprised us," Bruni bragged. Of course they weren't really that discreet—Jerry Hall famously acknowledged that her split from Jagger was due in part to his affair with Bruni.

John Spellman / Retna
galleries/2010/09/14/carla-bruni/carla-bruni---eric-clapton_gszb9r

The musician was heartbroken when Bruni, who he called the love of his life, left him for an even bigger rock star. As the new book reports, despite Clapton's entreaties to his old friend Mick Jagger not to steal Bruni away, he did. Or she did—once Bruni began dating the Rolling Stone, she bragged to her friends that she had satisfied a goal that she set out for herself when she was 15 years old.

Ron Galella, WireImage / Getty Images
galleries/2010/09/14/carla-bruni/carla-bruni---nicolas-sarkozy_wglcgk

While he may not play the guitar or gyrate on stage, Sarkozy does run a country and is Carla Bruni's current flame. In one of the great whirlwind public romances, Bruni and Sarko met at a dinner party in November 2007 and were married in an elegant ceremony by February 2008 at the Elysée Palace.

Michel Euler / AP Photo
galleries/2010/09/14/carla-bruni/carla-bruni---vincent-perez_qyspux

A leading French actor and hearthrob who starred in Cyrano De Bergerac, The Crow, and Indochine, Perez had a famous relationship with Bruni in the early 1990s. Now he's happily married though still friendly with his former flame.

Eric Ryan / Getty Images
galleries/2010/09/14/carla-bruni/carla-bruni---arno-klarsfeld_kbdzoz

A famous lawyer in France, Klarsfeld was reportedly one of the ex-boyfriends invited to meet Sarkozy. Klarsfeld says, "She is a real tigress."

Eric Ryan / Getty Images
galleries/2010/09/14/carla-bruni/carla-bruni---charles-berling_p3lqkl

Like Perez, Charles Berling is a noted French actor and screenwriter who was born in Tahiti. His most recent performance was in the acclaimed Summer Hours.

Newscom
galleries/2010/09/14/carla-bruni/carla-bruni---jean-paul-enthoven_fcxxhd

Yes, that's right, he shares a surname with another Bruni lover Raphael Enthoven, his son. Bruni has denied that she ever had a relationship with the elder Enthoven, a rich and famous publisher, but he took her on a trip (She insists that she told him there would be nothing sexual, and that he was okay with that.) where she met his son.

Adrianne Olivera Lacroix, WireImage / Getty Images
galleries/2010/09/14/carla-bruni/carla-bruni---raphael-enthoven_wp2sbr

On a trip with his father, Jean-Paul Enthoven, she met his married son, Raphael, who was married to Justine Levy, the daughter of famous French philosopher, Bernand-Henri Levy. Soon after, Raphael was in an affair with Bruni, BHL's daughter Justine was crushed, and Jean-Paul Enthoven was said to be a bit disappointed, as well. At least as it was portrayed in Justine's bestseller, a "novel" that le tout Paris read as an indictment of Bruni. The best seller described a surgically impeccable Bruni-like character as a veritable "terminator" of men…or of their wives, depending on your perspective.

Sipa Press
galleries/2010/09/14/carla-bruni/carla-bruni---louis-bertignac_wzpotg

Bruni sought out former French popstar Louis Bertignac, a founding member of the legendary French rock band, Telephone. He fell for her beauty, intelligence, and "timidity"—and then he prepared the musical arrangements for her first two albums. "We stayed together for a year," he said. "A month after our breakup, she was with Eric Clapton." After her third album came out, while she was first lady, a seemingly embittered Bertignac commented, "There are things that show that she would like to be the most famous woman in the world."

Sipa Press