{French magazine Closer on Friday said President Francois Hollande was having an affair with actress Julie Gayet, promising to back its claim with photographs after months of swirling rumours.}<\/p>\n
The weekly tabloid’s website said its Friday print edition would feature seven pages of revelations and pictures on the 59-year-old president’s alleged relationship with Gayet.<\/p>\n
Closer, echoing reports published on various websites in recent days, said Hollande routinely drives through Paris on his scooter to spend the night with his 41-year-old mistress.<\/p>\n
“Around New Year’s Day, a helmeted head of state joined the actress at her apartment, where he has got into the habit of spending the night,” Closer wrote on the website, which carries a blurred picture of the cover that appears to show Hollande.<\/p>\n
The French presidency did not immediately respond to AFP’s request for a comment.<\/p>\n
Respected news weekly L’Express had last month reported that the presidential palace’s security services were increasingly concerned by Hollande’s frequent “escapades”.<\/p>\n
Closer said the pictures raise security concerns by showing that the head of state is accompanied by only one bodyguard when he treks halfway across Paris to Gayet’s flat.<\/p>\n
The bodyguard “even brings the croissants”, Closer said.<\/p>\n
Hollande lives with his partner Valerie Trierweiler, a journalist for whom he left fellow Socialist politician Segolene Royal, the mother of his four children.<\/p>\n
Gayet, who appeared in one of Hollande’s 2012 election commercials, filed a complaint in March over rumours of the affair which she said were a breach of privacy.<\/p>\n
Gayet is an established television and cinema character actress who has appeared in more than 50 films. She is the mother of two children.<\/p>\n
Closer’s revelations set social media alight, with several politicians speculating that pressure would mount on Hollande to officially comment.<\/p>\n
If confirmed, Hollande’s relationship with Gayet would perpetuate a long French tradition of philandering presidents and senior politicians.<\/p>\n
Jacques Chirac is believed to have had many extra-marital conquests, as was his predecessor Francois Mitterrand, who even had a daughter born to a mistress.<\/p>\n
Valery Giscard d’Estaing was also described as an incorrigible womaniser. He even hinted in a recent book at an affair with Princess Diana.<\/p>\n
The French are known for being tolerant of their leader’s gallivanting, which has often proved to have little or no negative impact on popularity ratings.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
{French magazine Closer on Friday said President Francois Hollande was having an affair with actress Julie Gayet, promising to back its claim with photographs after months of swirling rumours.} The weekly tabloid’s website said its Friday print edition would feature seven pages of revelations and pictures on the 59-year-old president’s alleged relationship with Gayet. Closer, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2000049875,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[101],"byline":[334],"hashtag":[],"class_list":["post-12045","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-people","tag-internationl","byline-igihe-reporter"],"bylines":[{"id":334,"name":"IGIHE Reporter","slug":"igihe-reporter","description":"","image":{"id":0,"url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/?s=96&d=mm&f=y&r=g","alt":"Default avatar","title":"Default avatar","caption":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","sizes":[]},"user_id":null}],"contributors":[{"id":334,"name":"IGIHE Reporter","slug":"igihe-reporter","description":"","image":{"id":0,"url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/?s=96&d=mm&f=y&r=g","alt":"Default avatar","title":"Default avatar","caption":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","sizes":[]},"user_id":null}],"featured_image":{"id":2000049875,"url":"https:\/\/en-images.igihe.com\/IMG\/logo\/arton12045.jpg","alt":"","caption":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","width":0,"height":0,"sizes":{"thumbnail":{"url":"https:\/\/en-images.igihe.com\/IMG\/logo\/arton12045.jpg","width":1,"height":1},"medium":{"url":"https:\/\/en-images.igihe.com\/IMG\/logo\/arton12045.jpg","width":1,"height":1},"medium_large":{"url":"https:\/\/en-images.igihe.com\/IMG\/logo\/arton12045.jpg","width":1,"height":1},"large":{"url":"https:\/\/en-images.igihe.com\/IMG\/logo\/arton12045.jpg","width":1,"height":1},"full":{"url":"https:\/\/en-images.igihe.com\/IMG\/logo\/arton12045.jpg","width":0,"height":0}}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12045","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12045"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12045\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2000049875"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12045"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12045"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12045"},{"taxonomy":"byline","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/byline?post=12045"},{"taxonomy":"hashtag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/hashtag?post=12045"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}