Friday 10 January 2014

French president Francois Hollande threatens legal action against magazine that accused him of having an affair with actress

 
French President Francois Hollande says he is considering suing a magazine after it claimed he was having an affair with an actress.
Mr Hollande told AFP the report was an “attack on the right to privacy”. The latest edition of the weekly tabloid Closer features seven pages of revelations and photos about his alleged affair with Julie Gayet.

Ms Gayet, 41, is an established television and cinema actress who has appeared in more than 50 films.
Rumours of their alleged relationship have been circulating on the internet for many months.
Last March, she filed a complaint with prosecutors in Paris against various bloggers and websites that were reporting on the rumours.
Her lawyer at the time said there was no basis to the claims.
Mr Hollande told the Agence France Presse that he “like every other citizen has a right” to privacy.
In a statement issued personally rather than by his office, he said he was “looking into possible action, including legal action” against Closer.


But he does not deny the allegation of an affair, the BBC’s Hugh Schofield in Paris points out.
The magazine’s print edition came out on Friday and shows pictures it claims support the rumours that the 59-year-old president routinely spends the night with Ms Gayet at a flat not far from the Elysee Palace. The pictures show the pair arriving separately. Mr Hollande, wearing a helmet, is on a motorbike driven by a chauffeur.
The magazine claims the president’s bodyguard arrives the following morning to deliver croissants.
Mr Hollande lives with his partner Valerie Trierweiler, a journalist for whom he left fellow Socialist politician Segolene Royal, the mother of his four children.

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