After a day of #chaos, #Hollande says his #sharedlife with #Trierweiler is #finished Following the #revelation of an #affair, the #French #president puts an #end to #speculation and says #relationship with his partner is #over Share Email Kim Willsher The Observer, Sunday 26 January 2014 Francois Hollande and #ValerieTrierweiler are leading #separate #official #lives Francois Hollande and Valerie Trierweiler are leading separate official lives Photograph: Charles Platiau/ CHARLES PLATIAU/Reuters/Corbis The #statement was terse: François Hollande, speaking as a #man and not the president, was putting an end to his shared life with Valérie Trierweiler. The would-he-wouldnt-he soap opera that had played out for two weeks had finally come to what many saw as an inevitable conclusion. It was over. As the president flew back from an official visit to the Vatican, where he was frostily received, Valérie Trierweiler, his now ex-partner and now ex-#first #lady, was packing her bags for a two-day trip to India. She will not be unpacking them at the #ElyséePalace when she returns on Tuesday. With Hollandes declaration, her visit on behalf of Action Contre La Faim (Action against hunger) had been transformed from a long-standing official engagement by the presidents companion to a visit conducted by what officials described as an ordinary citizen. The statement came late in a day that had seen claim and counter-claim over the future of Frances first couple. Le Parisien newspaper reported on Saturday that the Elysée was about to announce the split: François Hollande et Valérie Trierweiler, cest fini [its finished] read its headline. The Elysée flatly denied it planned to make any statement. The confusion left Hollande, who had promised to clarify the situation between him and Trierweiler before flying to Washington on 11 February to meet Barack Obama, looking worryingly indecisive, an image he had hoped to have thrown off with his much heralded economic U-turn 10 days ago. It also threatened to cancel out positive opinion poll results showing his alleged affair with French #actress #JulieGayet, 41, had not damaged his standing with the public. At just before 7pm, Hollande issued his statement: I am making it known that I have ended my shared life with Valérie Trierweiler. According to Frédéric Gerschel of Le Parisien, the first couple thrashed out the details of their separation over lunch on Thursday. A long-time friend of Trierweiler, 48, Gerschel said: The relationship is finished, and they have reached an amiable agreement. She is not going to India as first lady and when she comes back she will not go back to the Elysée. Trierweiler, who had plunged into deep despair and spent a week in hospital after learning of Hollandes secret soirées with Gayet, was said by her lawyer, Frédérique Giffard – reportedly fired after speaking to the press last week – to be seeking a dignified exit. Giffard told Le Figaro: Its difficult for Valérie Trierweiler to remain serene in the face of such media and political pressure. But shes aware a clarification is necessary. She really hopes that this matter can be resolved in order to come out of it with as much dignity as possible. Trierweiler has spent the last week resting at La Lanterne, an official state residence at Versailles, but will return to the rented apartment in the 15th arrondissement of Paris that she shared with Hollande, 59, before his election in May 2012, Gerschel added. She knows the decision is irreversible. Of course she is sad and this is painful for her but she is trying to look forward. She has plans for the future and is hoping to return to work as a journalist, he said. Trierweiler met Hollande while he was still with Ségolène Royal, his former partner and mother of his four children. Their relationship became public shortly after Royal lost her 2007 bid to become Frances first female president when she was defeated by centre-right candidate Nicolas Sarkozy. In 2010, Hollande, who did not marry either partner, told glossy celebrity magazine Gala that Trierweiler was the woman of his life, but the Paris Match journalist was known to be deeply possessive. Shortly after his election, she caused a storm by supporting on Twitter Royals rival in the legislative elections. Many Socialist supporters found it hard to forgive her for Royals subsequent defeat. Since then, Hollandes popularity has continued to plummet. The couples split seemed inevitable after Hollande was reported to have been secretly seeing Gayet for two years after meeting her through Royal shortly before he was named the Socialist partys presidential candidate. Their affair came to light a fortnight ago after Closer magazine published photographs of the president on the back of a scooter visiting Gayets apartment. It claimed he had been sneaking out for trysts and showed his bodyguard apparently delivering croissants to the pair. theguardian/world/2014/jan/26/francois-hollande-valerie-trierweiler-split
Posted on: Sun, 26 Jan 2014 08:34:20 +0000
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