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Tag: French President

  • Francois Hollande Attends Lavish State Dinner Solo

    Francois Hollande, French President and rumored philanderer, attended Tuesday night’s state dinner with the Obamas all by himself shortly after a very public scandal and break up with his first lady.

    The French President and the Obamas enjoyed an impressive guest list, including actors Bradley Cooper, Julia Louis-Dreyfus and Mindy Kaling, as well as comedian Stephen Colbert. They also enjoyed entertainment from music legend Mary J. Blige, according to AP.

    Of the scandal, Ben Jealous with the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People spoke with admiration saying, “I think the French are way cooler than we are on a whole lot of fronts,” he said, including “way better gossip.”

    The place was not only host to a line of celebrities, but also a large group of corporate leaders, including Merck & Co. Chief Executive Officer Ken Frazier, Viacom Inc. CEO Philippe Dauman and Elon Musk, co-founder of electric-car maker Tesla Motors, Inc.

    Hollande is here for a number of reasons involved with repairing chilly relations between France and America, one of those being business and investment, according to Bloomberg.

    He is flying to California today to attend a private lunch with the likes of Facebook, Inc. Chief Operating Officer Sheryl Sandberg, Google, Inc. Chairman Eric Schmidt, Elon Musk, and many other leaders of Technology and Internet Companies.

    “This economic recovery in the United States is an opportunity for Europe, but it also is an example to be followed” when it comes to innovation, Hollande said at yesterday’s news conference. “That is precisely the meaning of my visit to the Silicon Valley.”

    The French economy is the fifth largest in the world and has really struggled over the past two years. Unemployment is at a 16-year high and France’s gross domestic product grew only around 0.2 percent in 2013.

    The European Commission is hopeful that growth will expand 0.9 percent this year, and will hopefully increase 1.7 percent in 2015.

    Hollande said he wants to promote innovation as a way to spark the French economy.

    “There comes a point where, after an ordeal, you have to be stronger than you were before the ordeal, before the crisis,” he said. “You need to be able to mobilize more strength, more energy.”

    Obama stated during his ovation,

    “We’ve stood together for our freedom for more than 200 years. And tonight I again want to pay a tribute to President Hollande for the principles of leadership and personal friendship and courage that he has shown on the world stage.”

    Hopefully, as things move along here in the U.S. during Holland’s visit, relations can continue to mend between these two world powers.

    Image via wikimedia commons

  • François Hollande Meets With Barack Obama For A Different Kind Of Affair

    French President Francois Hollande arrived in D.C. to attend a different kind of foreign affair. President Hollande will be the guest of honor on Tuesday, at the first state dinner hosted by the Obama administration this term. The French President has been the center of attention since the beginning of 2014, following news of his alleged affair with French actress Julie Gayet and subsequent separation from his partner Valérie Trierweiler.

    Hollande arrived unaccompanied by the former de facto First Lady of France, Valérie Trierweiler.The couple were together for the past seven years, until news of the affair broke out in January. The French President has since announced his separation from Trierweiler. He has publicly stated that he wants to maintain his privacy , although he has said nothing to deny the allegations.

    File:Trierweiler 2012.JPG

    Pic of Valérie Trierweiler (Hollande’s former girlfriend)

    File:Julie Gayet 2009.jpg

    Pic of Julie Gayet (the other woman)

    His state visit began with his arrival in D.C. followed by a visit to Thomas Jefferson’s Monticello, Virginia residence with the President, Barack Obama. Jefferson is America’s Third President, and a well-known Francophile, leading the country in a time when French-American relations were very strong.

    France is a top ally of the United States government, and the state dinner is held for the purpose of further deepening the ties between the two countries. So far, Obama has been able to count on the support of the Hollande administration. This was last demonstrated in September 2013, when President Obama asked for support in attacking Syria — the British Parliament opposed the plan. France was among the few allies that offered their support and made preparations to bombard Syria with air strikes.

    Unlike his predecessor, the former French President Nicolas Sarkozy, President Hollande’s policies are more in tune with Obama’s policies. Furthermore, since President Hollande is fluent in English, the affair with the White House may prove to be more rewarding than the affair he leaves back in France.

    Images via Wikimedia Commons (1), (2), (3)

  • French President’s State Dinner Upset By Affair

    French President Francois Hollande has famously been in the tabloids in recent weeks following the news that he left his longtime live-in girlfriend and unofficial first lady, Valerie Trierweiler, for a French actress, and now the news is causing some trouble during preparations for the State Dinner the White House is planning to hold in his honor next week.

    Hollande reportedly ended things with Trierweiler in an 18-word note, and she recently said in an interview that she was considering writing a tell-all book that would dig into what she had seen and experienced during her time with the ruler. The veteran journalist met Hollande while working as a political reporter for Paris Match and says she was floored when she found out he had been having an affair with popular actress Julie Gayet; in fact, she spent some time in a hospital after the breakup.

    “I heard rumours of course but you hear rumours about everyone,” she said in an interview. “I hear them about myself all the time. I paid no attention. When I found out, it was as if I had fallen from a sky-scraper.”

    Now, those in charge of planning the State Dinner are scrambling to make changes for the big night, including scrapping 300 newly-printed invitations because they had Trierweiler’s name on them and deciding whether or not to include the customary dance now that Hollande won’t have a dance partner.

    “That may be a bit of a protocol debacle there,” said Walter Scheib, former White House chef. “It’ll be curious to see if he asks the first lady for a dance. That would be on the front of all the tabloids — Frenchman sweeps first lady off feet!”

    Image via Wikimedia Commons

  • French President’s Ex Threatens Tell-All

    Valerie Trierweiler, the woman who had a lengthy relationship with French President Francois Hollande, may write a tell-all book about her time with him.

    48-year old Trierweiler, a veteran journalist who met Hollande while working as a political reporter for Paris Match, says she was extremely hurt by the way he ended their relationship and is considering penning a book which could damage Hollande’s already bruised reputation.

    She says she’d heard rumors that he was stepping out on her, but being in the public eye, she knew such things went with the territory and paid them no mind. But when the magazine Closer published photos of Hollande and 41-year old actress Julie Gayet meeting for secret trysts, Trierweiler knew the truth.

    “I heard rumours of course but you hear rumours about everyone,” she said in an interview. “I hear them about myself all the time. I paid no attention. When I found out, it was as if I had fallen from a sky-scraper.”

    Hollande has already lost quite a bit of popularity in France due to a shrinking economy and unemployment somewhere in the 3.3 million range; after announcing the breakup, some are wondering what else he might be keeping from the public.

    “He hid that from us. What else is he hiding?” restaurant cook Herve Charriere said.

    Trierweiler says that though she was with Hollande throughout his rise to power, she thinks that his role in politics might have ultimately damaged their relationship.

    “We didn’t react to power in the same way,” she said. “Something broke. I would have preferred a normal life. We might then still be together.”

    Image via Wikimedia Commons

  • Francois Hollande Ends Seven-Year Relationship with ‘First Lady’

    French president Francois Hollande has split with long-time girlfriend, Valerie Trierweiler, an anonymous source confirms.

    The news first broke during an interview with news agency, Agence France Presse, in which Hollande, 59, admits that he and Trierweiler, 48, were no longer a couple.

    Trierweiler, who acted as First Lady, was dating Hollande for seven years.

    Hollande ‘s affair with 41-year-old Russian actress Julie Gayet hit headlines last month informing everyone that there was trouble in paradise for the presidential duo.

    Although both Hollande and Gayet denied their relationship in the past, photos published by the newspaper Closer, confirmed allegations that the head-of-state was secretly meeting with someone else at his presidential flat.

    Trierweiler’s knowledge of her lover’s mistress sent her in a downward spiral January 10, in which she was hospitalized for depression. On top of that, the Russian magazine journalist was also not receiving much acceptance from the public.

    Her authoritative acting role as first lady was a disapproval by many, since both remained unmarried. Media outlets reported this controversy extensively, adding more humiliation to her image.

    According to politicians like Thierry Mariani in Hollande’s Social Party, dating relationships within politics are customarily never reported as often in mainstream news and do not come as of concern to many.

    “We’re not in a traditionally Anglo-Saxon country where the private life is dramatized, like in England or even more so in the United States,” Mariani said. “We’re in a republic, and in a republic those with legitimacy are those who’ve been elected.”

    Hollande’s Social Party has mentioned how the emphases on his private life were way too sensationalized. Now that the relationship has ended, politicians are relieved that matters concerning unemployment can once again return to being the main focus.

    “We can finally get back to talking about what French people really care about: unemployment, deficit, debt, lack of growth,” Mariani said.

    Hollande, who is said to be the most disliked president in French history, is apparently on good terms with Trierweiler.

    Both have currently been on separate business trips. Trierweiler traveled to India Saturday to work with charity whereas Hollande visited Turkey on Sunday.

    Sources have confirmed that Trierweiler has moved back into the duo’s former Paris apartment.

    Image via Youtube 

  • Francois Hollande Splits With First Lady

    The break-up of the French President, Francois Hollande from Valerie Tierweiler was gaining speculation after he was photographed coming out of an actress’s apartment wearing a motorcycle helmet.

    A magazine published photos that revealed the probable affair Hollande had been having with an actress, Julie Gayet.

    Hollande, who has never denied having an affair with Julie Gayet, had admitted to a “difficult moment” in his relationship with Trierweiler.

    Trierweiler spent a week in the Elysee Palace hospital after the revelations. On Saturday evening she tweeted her thanks to the “wonderful staff” at the Elysee Palace.

    Adding, she “would never forget their devotion or the emotion at the time of departure.”

    Hollande was quoted as saying: “I wish to make it known that I have ended my partnership with Valerie Trierweiler.”

    He told the state-run AFP news agency that their “shared life” had ended.

    Trierweiler, a journalist for the glossy magazine Paris-Match, plans to travel to India to support the French charity, Action Against Hunger.

    The two have never married, although she was known throughout France as Hollande’s First Lady.

    Ms. Gayet is suing the magazine for €50,000 (£41,650) in damages and €4,000 (£3,330) in legal costs, claiming it breached French privacy rules.

    Closer magazine said that the affair had begun during the 2012 presidential race.

    Image via YouTube

  • President Francois Hollande And First Lady Separate

    Valerie Trierweiler will not be standing by her man. The embattled President Francois Hollande has been at the center of a major scandal involving an affair with actress Julie Gayet. Now it has been reported that Hollande’s partner, Valerie Trierweiler, has left him.

    He and the First Lady were going through some “painful moments” after the story broke, and it seems that Trierweiler is unable to endure the scandal any longer. Trierweiler had in fact been hospitalized after learning about the affair.

    According to French magazine Closer, which broke the story, the president had been having an affair with Gayet for two years. The president threatened legal action, while refusing to confirm or deny the truth of the allegations. The fact that the first lady has moved out has only served to increase speculation.

    Hollande was quoted as saying to Agence France-Presse, “I wish to make it known that I have ended my shared life (partnership) with Valerie Trierweiler”.

    Trierweiler made her farewells via twitter:

    She wrote, “All my gratitude goes to the extraordinary people at the Élysées. I will never forget the devotion or emotion at the time of leaving,”

    The 59-year-old president’s ratings have gone down drastically since being elected. However, the dissatisfaction of the French people is chiefly due to Hollande’s leadership.

    French pollster Ifop with Le Journal du Dimanche asked citizens how they felt about the president after the cheating scandal and amazingly 80% did not have a difference of opinion.

    This is to say that many people chose to like or dislike him as a leader based on his actions in office rather than his personal life. This is a stark contrast to American politics where a politician’s job skills and moral image are practically one and the same.

    Image via Wikimedia Commons

  • Valerie Trierweiler Hospitalized for Depression Due To Hollande Affair Rumors

    France’s first lady has been hospitalized following affair rumors of her partner, President Francois Hollande.

    Valerie Trierweiler, 48, has been in the hospital since Friday after reports were made that Hollande and French actress Julie Gayet were seeing each other.

    Celebrity magazine, Closer, initially published the rumors in an article, which sent the first lady into an emotional spiral. (image)

    The publication detailed how Hollande, 59, and Gayet, 41, were allegedly seen meeting with each other at a Paris flat near the presidential palace.

    According to Fox News:

    “The magazine Closer published images Friday showing a bodyguard and a helmeted man it said was Hollande visiting Julie Gayet, 41, a moderately known French actress who appeared in a clip for his 2012 presidential campaign.”

    In response, Hollande threatened to sue the magazine Friday on the bases of “breach of privacy.”

    Gayet has also attempted to file lawsuits in the past due to similar rumors. Last March, the actress set out to sue an Internet source for posting false stories about her and Hollande.

    Although Hollande has never been married, he has been in a long-term relationship with Trierweiler for some time now.

    However, their relationship has sent people into an uproar being that many view her role as first lady preposterous when in reality she is only Hollande’s girlfriend, not wife.(image)

    A political news media company, Le Pointe, conducted an online news poll on the relationship. It revealed that 89% would like to see the relationship end between the president and Trierweiler, which would make her “the first Premier Dame in history to be kicked out of the Elysee Palace.”

    Trierweiler, who is also a magazine journalist for Paris Match, is said to be suffering from depression due to all the humiliation and animosity she has received from the general public.

    She is scheduled for discharge Monday. A source says that she will then make a decision on what to do about her relationship with Hollande.

     Image via Youtube

    Image via Wikimedia Commons