Carla Bruni speaks out

2008-02-13 09:12

Paris - President Nicolas Sarkozy's new wife, former supermodel Carla Bruni, said in an interview published on Tuesday that she wants to "keep her personality" in her new position as France's first lady.

In her first interview since the couple's wedding earlier this month, the 40-year-old told L'Express weekly that she took her responsibilities and her commitment to Sarkozy very seriously, but would maintain her independence.

Asked about her predecessors Danielle Mitterrand or Bernadette Chirac, she told the magazine: "These are women I respect.

"However, just as Nicolas is not like his predecessors, I would like, as well, while respecting the dignity of the position, to keep my personality."

"I do not know yet what I can do as first lady, but I do know how I want to do it: seriously," she added, according to excerpts published online on Tuesday. The full interview will be published on Wednesday.

The couple's romance became official in December, just two months after Sarkozy's divorce from his second wife Cecilia, and a short time after, on February 2, they married discreetly.

However, according to Bruni-Sarkozy, as the magazine called her, the wedding could not have come soon enough.

What happened "between Nicolas and me was not quick, it was instant. So for us, this was actually very slow", she was quoted as saying.

The president's third wife, who once said monogamy "bores" her, told the magazine: "I am culturally Italian and I would not like to divorce...

"So I am the first lady up until the end of my husband's mandate, and then his wife until death. I know that life can hold surprises, but that's what I hope for."

Bruni also admitted it was a "mistake" to bring her son, Aurelian, on what became a highly publicised holiday the couple took to Jordan in December. The boy was photographed covering his face while riding atop Sarkozy's shoulders.

"When I saw the photographers there, I told my son to hide his face, because I thought it was better for him not to be recognisable in the photos," she told the magazine.

"My biggest mistake was, of course, bringing my son on this trip to Petra," she told L'Express.

"That delivered an image that was shocking, violent, obscene, that made me embarassed as a mother.

"That was not Nicolas' mistake, that was mine."

- AFP