Trierweiler breaks silence over split

The former First Lady has spoken out over her break up with President Hollande

FORMER First Lady Valerie Trierweiler has spoken publicly for the first time about the end of her relationship with President François Hollande.

In an interview in tomorrow’s edition of Paris Match (where she works) she has admitted that when she heard the news of the alleged affair between Mr Hollande and actress Julie Gayet, revealed in photographs in the magazine Closer, she felt like she had “fallen from a skyscraper”.

The photographs showed Mr Hollande visiting Ms Gayet at night on a scooter.

It is the first time Ms Trierweiler has spoken out about the separation.

She is also said to have confided in some of the journalists chronicling her current humanitarian visit to India.

They claim that she hinted during informal coffee breaks that political power may have been to blame for the break-up.

“If François Hollande hadn’t become President, perhaps we would have still been together” they say Ms Trierweiler said, adding that she “never urged him to be President, and never dreamed of entering the Élysée”.

i-Télé and RTL also report she said: “We are not at war. We talk on the telephone," adding: "My separation was a break-up, not a sacking.”

She reportedly added that her experiences had "vaccinated" her against politics and she would remain with the magazine Paris Match but write literary features, not political articles.

‘The President took security risks’: The February edition on The Connexion has an interview with the photographer who took the Hollande – Gayet photographs. The edition is on sale from this Friday across France. Call Nathalie on 06 40 61 71 97 to find your nearest stockist.