They’ve dubbed her the new Greta Garbo, Jackie Kennedy or even Princess Di, but judging by her conduct they’ll soon be chanting: “Are you Cherie in disguise?”

Cecelia Sarkozy — as may be seen from this article in the Sunday Telegraph — defended her role in the Libyan/Bulgarian medical staff release by going on about being a mother and a woman … basically a couple of flats in Bristol away from being the “wicked witch” herself.

And that’s not all; if you buy Sarkozy this week, you get the woman who had a public affair before returning to the marital home, failed to vote for husband in the presidential elections and left the Group of Eight early.

More like Cherie Blair on crack, really.

Sarkozy is her second husband. Her first, TV host Jacques Martin, she left for the French president. Her affair with Richard Attias, an executive of the Publicis Groupe, led to speculation that the Sarkozys would be the first presidential couple to divorce while in office.

At one point, media speculation had it that she would refuse to move into the Élysée Palace if he became president. Not far-fetched if you consider she walked out on lunch with the Bushes to go shopping.

This former model of Romanian origins has a major sense of self that appears to both charm and infuriate the French public. Her dress is stylish and her conduct mutinous beyond anything expected of a French first lady. She even upstaged her husband at his own inauguration. Yet there is no doubting his love for her. He has not only taken her back after the affair, but tries to get others to see her as he does.

The Telegraph quote him as saying that if you loved Jackie Kennedy, you’ll love her.

Perhaps he would do better with: “If you think the British were thrilled to get rid of Cherie, wait until you get to know Cecilia.”

  • When I was still writing under “Tripartite”, I did a post on Sarah Brown, wife of new British Prime Minister Gordon Brown.

    It’s called “Not the Sarah Brown speech” and was written just after Brown moved into Number 10.

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    Michael Trapido

    Michael Trapido

    Mike Trapido is a criminal attorney and publicist having also worked as an editor and journalist. He was born in Johannesburg and attended HA Jack and Highlands North High Schools. He married Robyn...

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