Trierweiler sues over love claims

A RIGHT-WING politician who is claimed in a new book to have had a relationship with Valérie Trierweiler while she was also with François Hollande is joining the First Lady in suing its authors.

Ms Trierweiler has said she is suing over the allegations in the book La Frondeuse (meaning "rebel" or "troublemaker"), that she had a “Jules et Jim” style relationship with Hollande and former UMP economic recovery minister Patrick Devedjian.

Now Devedjian has also decided to sue, said Le Parisien citing sources close to the ex-minister.

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.

She 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.” The reference is to a 1962 Truffaut film about two male friends who have ongoing relationships with the same woman, with them all living togther at one point.

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”.

Jakubyzsyn has just been hired as new head of politics for leading privately-owned TV channel TF1, and his bosses, who have read the book, are standing by him.

Co-author Alix Bouilhaguet, a senior reporter for the political service of France 2, said they will “let justice take its course” and that they made “an honest investigation” into the First Lady’s life.

The book traces Trierweiler’s life from meeting Hollande, though recent controversies like the “Tweet affair”.

This summer Trierweiler also sued several magazines for publishing photos of her and Hollande in beachwear on a private beach.

Photo: Jackolan1 Wikimedia Commons