Carla Bruni: ‘Who knows if it’s forever’

Carla Bruni has done little to end speculation about her relationship with Nicolas Sarkozy by giving a half-hearted response when questioned about whether her marriage “was forever”.

Nicolas Sarkozy talks with his wife during a dinner in Mexico on March 09, 2009

In an interview with Sky News, the French first lady described her relationship as a “fairy tale” but went on to say she did not know how long it would last.

While discussing her husband, she was asked: “Is he for keeps – is he forever?” 

After a long pause, she replied: “I guess marriage should be forever but who knows what happens. I wish it was forever, that’s my hope … but we could be dead tomorrow.”

Speculation has been rife in recent days on Twitter, in blogs and on the website of a respected French newspaper – that both Mrs Bruni and her husband are having extramarital affairs.

The rumours allege that she has moved in with Benjamin Biolay, a French musician six years her junior, while Mr Sarkozy has sought “comfort” in the arms of his ecology minister, Chantal Jouanno, a karate champion who has strenuously denied the claims.

However, in the interview she said of her husband: “He would never have affairs … have you ever seen a picture of him having an affair?”

The interview was recorded last Friday, before the rumours over the affairs hit French internet sites.

In a blog on its website, the newspaper, Le Journal du Dimanche, described them as “the gossip of the moment that could become the story of the year”.

Singer-songwriter Bruni, 42, described her marriage as a fairytale. “The real fairytale is how lucky, how incredibly lucky it was for me to fall in love at 40 years old and meeting someone I could marry,” she said.

Asked about whether she missed her former rock and roll lifestyle, in which she dated the likes of Eric Clapton and Mick Jagger, she said: “I never tasted monogamy before getting married So I think monogamy has to do with marriage.”

Mr Sarkozy is due to arrive in London on Friday for a working lunch with Gordon Brown and a meeting with David Cameron.

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