US News

French first lady negotiating separation after president picks actress

France’s first lady has lost the love triangle battle with President Francois Hollande’s new girlfriend and Hollande is “in negotiations, including legal ones” to end their nine-year relationship, it was reported Monday.

Elysee palace sources told Britain’s Telegraph that Valerie Trierweiler wanted to remain a couple with Hollande but the president was insistent.

When word Hollande’s secret affair with actress Julie Gayet broke earlier this month sources close to Trierweiler said she wanted to weather the storm with him in the fashion of Hillary Clinton during the Monica Lewinsky scandal.

Trierweiler was recovering from the shock at a Paris hospital last Thursday when Hollande told her he “needed time,” according to Paris Match, which employs Trierweiler as a writer.

“They agreed that she could ‘wait’” at La Lanterne, a luxurious presidential residence near Versailles, according to the Daily Mail.

But on Sunday Elysee sources said the couple was preparing for “an inevitable separation,” Journal du Dimanche reported.

And on Monday a Hollande aide said the relationship was “over.”

Another presidential advisor said Hollande cannot publicly snub Trierweiler by quickly making Gayet her replacement.

“If there must be a split, it must be dignified and elegant regarding Valerie Trierweiler. And above all, July Gayet mustn’t instantly move into the Elysee,” the advisor told the newspaper Le Figaro on Monday.

Hollande has had little to say since the scandal broke but vowed last week to choose between Trierweiler and Gayet before his state visit to Washington on Feb. 11.

On Monday, during a press conference in The Hague,  he was asked how Trierweiler was, after spending a week in the hospital.

“I thank you for your question. Valerie Trierweiler is doing better and resting at La Lanterne,” he said. I don’t have any other comment to make.”