Another Sarkozy is causing a petite embarrassment in France.
New York transplant Olivier Sarkozy, 43-year-old half-brother of the former French president Nicolas Sarkozy, has been dubbed “le nouveau French lover” by the Paris press ever since he and Mary-Kate Olsen became a celebrity couple.
The French have fried the investment banker since he was photographed with his pipsqueak paramour, who is 17 years his junior.
“Only history will tell if this liaison will last,” said Elle magazine about Sarkozy and Olsen. “But, one thing’s for sure, Olivier Sarkozy has had a weak entrée into the club of French lovers.”
Olivier’s half-brother married sexy actress model Carla Bruni.
Elle magazine described Olivier as a “younger, taller, and better tanned” version of his more famous sibling, and refers to a family dynasty that started with their father, a Hungarian aristocrat who bedded his own nanny at the tender age of 11.
Once called upon for his expert advice on the shrinking euro, Olivier, a principal in the Carlyle Group, now makes the Parisian society columns for partying alongside actress-turned-fashion designer Olsen and her friends, Rolling Stones progeny Alexandra and Theodora Richards.
Le Figaro recently called Sarkozy and Olsen “the new power couple,” and other news outlets predicted that their amorous exploits would make a more interesting national obsession than the former French president and first lady.
“After the Carla and Nicolas soap opera, we now have Olivier and Mary-Kate,” quipped Elle.
Olivier divorced his wife, Charlotte Bernard, in 2010, then had a liaison with actress Stella Schnabel, daughter of the artist Julian. He sold his art-filled Upper East Side townhouse in January for $8.4 million and is searching for a new bachelor pad on the Lower East Side.
Sarkozy started dating Olsen in May, a coupling that Bernard has called “grotesque.” Last week, the lanky French businessman was photographed in the West Village, flanked by his 11-year-old daughter Margot and Olsen, who are roughly the same height.
“He’s telling friends that Mary-Kate is the best thing that has happened to him in a long time,” a source told Page Six.
Sarkozy Sr., a former advertising executive who was married four times, divorced Olivier’s mother when he was 6 years old.
His mother, Christine de Ganay, remarried an American diplomat, and Sarkozy grew up mostly outside of France, at his stepfather’s postings in Zambia, Egypt and England.