this news deserves it own thread but i'll play here....
Swerve Dude is a head of state and juggling three women
French first lady hospitalized after affair report
The other Jumpoff, French actress Julie Gayet
His Baby mama
Segolene Royal
By LORI HINNANT
PARIS -- The woman considered France's first lady was hospitalized after a report the president is having an affair with an actress, her office said Sunday, as a poll was released showing the French shrugging off any liaison as none of their business.
Valerie Trierweiler was hospitalized Friday — the day the magazine report and photo spread came out — for "rest and a few tests," said her chief of staff, Patrice Biancone. He said she was expected to leave Monday.
Hollande has never married but has had longtime relationships with Trierweiler and before her with French Socialist presidential candidate Segolene Royal, with whom he has four children. Rumors have circulated for months that he might have another lover.
French media face strict privacy laws, but in recent years have chipped away at the tradition of ignoring the private lives of public figures.
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.
Hollande's popularity is already at historic lows over his failure to improve the economy, but a poll released over the weekend indicated the latest developments left the majority of French untroubled.
According to the Ifop poll for the weekly Journal du dimanche, 77 percent of those asked believed the liaison should be private. The poll was released before the hospitalization of Trierweiler was made public.
Hollande himself would agree, saying in a statement that he was weighing possible legal action for "the attacks on respect for privacy, to which each citizen has a right."
For a president whose approval ratings hover around 25 percent, however, the weekend survey had less good news. More than 8 in 10 said their opinion of him had not changed.
The telephone poll of 1,025 adults was conducted on Friday and Saturday. No margin of error was given in Sunday's publication of its results, but such polls often have one of about 3 percentage points.
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Who Is Julie Gayet?
French president Francois Hollande has been accused of having an affair with the actress. Who is she?
Julie Gayet and Francois Hollande: Who Is Woman in Reported Affair? | TIME.com http://world.time.com/2014/01/10/who...#ixzz2qEkTJp9p
The French magazine
Closer claims that President Francois Hollande is having an affair with actress Julie Gayet and touting photos to support the claim. Hollande hasn’t denied it, but is
threatening to sue the magazine over what he calls a breach of privacy. Hollande’s longtime partner is
Valerie Trierweiler (he had his four children with his previous partner).
So who is Julie Gayet?
She’s a 41-year-old French film actress and producer who has been in more than 50 films, the
Telegraph reports, but her work isn’t prominent in the United States. She studied at the Actor’s Studio in London and is
best known for films like
My Best Friend, and
Chaos and Desire. In 2007, she founded her own production company with another woman called Rouge International.
And she’s married herself. Gayet wed writer and scenarist Santiago Amigorena in 2003 and had two children with him. The couple is separated, though not officially divorced.
Gayet even appeared in an advertisement for Hollande’s campaign below.
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Francois Hollande, Julie Gayet … and a very British scandal about a very French affair
Once, news of a scandal at the Elysée palace might never have made the papers. Now, France's tradition of privacy and discretion is under pressure from the global celebrity media
http://www.theguardian.com/world/201...-french-affair