Free Republic

Truth be told, despite the best efforts by the French and British media to sell their wares, one can hardly call it Gayetgate. Indeed, the president of France, François Hollande, 60, has a mistress, actress Julie Gayet [1], now 41, whom he met about two years ago, even before being elected. Two weeks ago, Closer, a gossip weekly, published a seven-page report that included pictures of the president paying a visit to Gayet’s love nest, an apartment located on Rue du Cirque, one block away from Elysée Palace, the French head of state’s residence in central Paris [2]. However,...

Paris (AFP) - French President Francois Hollande on Saturday told AFP he has split with his longstanding partner Valerie Trierweiler after his affair with an actress nearly 20 years his junior. The announcement came after a day of rumours in the French media that Hollande would formally announce the rupture on Saturday, on the eve of a visit by Trierweiler to India for charity work. Saying he was speaking as a private individual and not as head of state as the matter concerned his private life, Hollande told AFP over the phone: "I wish to make it known that I...

"The time has come," the Walrus said, "To talk of many things: Of shoes--and ships--and sealing-wax-- Of cabbages--and kings" – Lewis Carroll Politics, politicians and little people: always a messy affair. Poor Valerie, she, of all people, should have known better. In case you somehow missed this international news-cycle squirrel, it seems French President François Hollande has been, how shall I put this – carrying on with a woman other than the one he has been shacking up with for the past few years. That’s correct; François has been having an affair - while having an affair with Valarie...

Francois Hollande’s trysts with his French actress mistress took place in a Paris flat, registered to a convicted criminal with mafia links, it has been revealed. The 59-year-old president has reportedly been seeing Julie Gayet, a 41-year-old actress who has been conducting a secret affair with the Socialist head of state since last year. The revelations come as France's first lady Valerie Trierweiler is expected to leave hospital today, where she was admitted after collapsing with 'shock and exhaustion' upon discovering the affair.