French politician to sue over first lady’s lover claims

A politician who is claimed in a new book to have had a relationship with Valerie Trierweiler while she was also with Francois Hollande is joining the First Lady in suing its authors

French politician to sue over first lady's lover claims

French First Lady Valerie Trierweiler plans to sue the authors of the latest book about her which alleges that she was also the lover of a former government minister when she dated the now president.

La Frondeuse (The Troublemaker), claims that Trierweiler had an affair with Patrick Devedjian, a former economic recovery minister in Nicolas Sarkozy’s government, in the early 2000s.u00a0She then allegedly “shared” her love with the Socialist Francois Hollande when Devedjian failed to commit himself further to the relationship.

Menage a Trois: According to the author of the book, Patrick Devedjian (below) hesitated so much that Valérie Trierweiler let herself be courted by a second man — Hollande. File Pics/Getty Images

Now Devedjian has also decided to sue. According to the biography, just out, Trierweiler, who was married at the time, had an affair with Devedjian, also married, and then started a relationship with François Hollande (who was then with Ségolène Royal) at the same time.u00a0She later split up with Devedjian after he refused to leave his wife, La Frondeuse claims. She was divorced from her first husband in 2010.

In an interview with the magazine Point de Vue one of the authors, Christophe Jakubyszyn, said: “Patrick Devedjian hesitated so much that Valérie Trierweiler let herself be courted by a second man of different political views – François Hollande. Bit by bit the relationship with Hollande took over from the other one, notably after an ultimatum in 2003 which Devedjian did not give in to. But he suffered a lot from this break up. It was kind of a Jules et Jim story. Both men have retained a lot of respect for each other.”

Trierweiler has said she will sue for defamation and harm to her private life because of “the nature of the words in the form of affirmations by the authors, combined with unproven and ill-willed rumours intended to sully her and those close to her”. u00a0Jakubyszyn’s bosses, who have read the book, are standing by him. The book traces Trierweiler’s life from meeting Hollande, through recent controversies. u00a0 u00a0 u00a0u00a0

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