It’s official: François Hollande and Valérie Trierweiler announce separation
President François Hollande tells French news agency he has separated from Valérie Trierweiler on eve of her planned charity trip to India.President François Hollande this evening announced “the end of his common life” with Valérie Trierweiler, ending more than two weeks of fevered speculation since the disclosure of his alleged affair with an actress.Mr Hollande’s terse statement to the news agency Agence France-Presse (AFP) came a day before Trierweiler was due to fly to Mumbai for a charity event. It means she is no longer first lady, a role she fulfilled with a staff of four based in an office at the Elysée Palace, although the presidential couple had never married.
Specifying that he was speaking in a personal capacity and not as head of state because the matter concerned his private life, Mr Hollande said: “I’m making it known that I have ended the life in common which I shared with Valérie Trierweiler.”
Trierweiler, 48, the first lady and Mr Hollande's partner since 2006, plans to travel to India on Sunday for a charity trip and the president wants to settle the issue of their future before her departure, the newspaper said.
"The press release from the Elysee Palace should be released sometime today," the respected national weekly said on its website, without citing its sources.A spokesman for the president declined to comment on the report, and Trierweiler's spokesman did not immediately return a request for comment.Two weeks ago, celebrity magazine Closer published a report that Hollande was having an affair with French actress Julie Gayet. It ran pictures of what it said was the president wearing a motorcycle helmet arriving via scooter to visit Gayet, 41, for nocturnal trysts.
The ensuing media storm has diverted public attention from a shift Mr Hollande has made this month towards more business-friendly policies, which he hopes will revive the euro zone's second-biggest economy in the face of high unemployment.A press conference to unveil the economic plans was overshadowed by questions over Mr Hollande's private life, as was a trip to Rome to meet the pope on Friday.
Mr Hollande, 59, is the most unpopular president in modern France, according topolls. He has struggled to live up to a promise to get unemployment, currently stuck near 11 percent, firmly on a downward trend.He has four children from a previous relationship with Segolene Royal, a senior member of his Socialist Party and a 2007 presidential candidate. Miss Royal announced their separation just after she lost the 2007 election to Nicolas Sarkozy.Trierweiler, an arts columnist for weekly magazine Paris Match, is not married to Mr Hollande but assumed the role of first lady at official functions following his election in May 2012.
Trierweiler, 48, the first lady and Mr Hollande's partner since 2006, plans to travel to India on Sunday for a charity trip and the president wants to settle the issue of their future before her departure, the newspaper said.
"The press release from the Elysee Palace should be released sometime today," the respected national weekly said on its website, without citing its sources.A spokesman for the president declined to comment on the report, and Trierweiler's spokesman did not immediately return a request for comment.Two weeks ago, celebrity magazine Closer published a report that Hollande was having an affair with French actress Julie Gayet. It ran pictures of what it said was the president wearing a motorcycle helmet arriving via scooter to visit Gayet, 41, for nocturnal trysts.
The ensuing media storm has diverted public attention from a shift Mr Hollande has made this month towards more business-friendly policies, which he hopes will revive the euro zone's second-biggest economy in the face of high unemployment.
A press conference to unveil the economic plans was overshadowed by questions over Mr Hollande's private life, as was a trip to Rome to meet the pope on Friday.
Mr Hollande, 59, is the most unpopular president in modern France, according to
polls. He has struggled to live up to a promise to get unemployment, currently stuck near 11 percent, firmly on a downward trend.He has four children from a previous relationship with Segolene Royal, a senior member of his Socialist Party and a 2007 presidential candidate. Miss Royal announced their separation just after she lost the 2007 election to Nicolas Sarkozy.Trierweiler, an arts columnist for weekly magazine Paris Match, is not married to Mr Hollande but assumed the role of first lady at official functions following his election in May 2012.