New first lady says she married Sarkozy for a lifetime

PARIS: A whirlwind romance, a discrete marriage, then the bride - France's new first lady - disappeared. Finally, in her first interview since tying the knot, Carla Bruni, the former fashion model turned singer, says she fell head over heels for President Nicolas Sarkozy and married him for life. "I didn't hesitate" after meeting him, Bruni said in an interview with the newsweekly L'Express , extracts of which were published Tuesday on its Web site. "Right away, I wanted to marry him." The Italian-born Bruni and Sarkozy exchanged vows Feb. 2 in a quiet ceremony in a drawing room at the presidential Elysee Palace, just months after they first met, reportedly in November. It was the first marriage for the 40-year-old Bruni, who has a son from a previous relationship, and the third for Sarkozy, 53, who has three children. He married Bruni less than four months after his divorce from Cecilia Sarkozy, a woman widely thought to be irreplaceable to him. The discretion surrounding Sarkozy's marriage to Bruni contrasted with the couple's very public romance, on display in photos shot by paparazzi in Paris, Jordan and Egypt. India made clear, however, that Bruni would not be welcome on Sarkozy's official visit if the two were not married - so Sarkozy visited the Taj Mahal alone. Doubts have been raised about the durability of the speedy marriage and whether Bruni, whose nearly nude photographs have been widely displayed in French media, could become an appropriate first lady in a country where demeanour counts. She has made no secret of her string of lovers from Donald Trump to Mick Jagger. In the interview, Bruni clearly tried to reassure, with a short answer for those who thought the marriage came too fast: "Wrong." "Between Nicolas and me, it wasn't quick, it was immediate," she was quoted as saying by L'Express , which was publishing this week's edition a day ahead of schedule to capitalize on the interview. "It seems that with him, nothing can go wrong ....," she said. "With him, an anxiousness that I've felt since childhood disappears," said Bruni, who comes from a well-off Turin family. She suggested that she was comforted by Sarkozy's "courage," and called him "very protective" and "very paternal." "I like being with him more than anything," she said. Meanwhile, the president, elected in May, has found himself in the midst of a spectacular plunge in polls and caught up in a messy political battle in his home territory, the posh suburb of Neuilly, where he long served as mayor. Pundits blame his fall in popularity, in part, on the way he and Bruni flaunted their love ties. The couple has kept a low profile since the unannounced marriage. Despite her freewheeling image, Bruni said she would be a no-nonsense first lady of France. "I don't yet know what I might do as first lady, but I know how I will do it: seriously." But she also suggested she was not about to betray herself. "Just as Nicolas doesn't resemble his predecessors, I would like, me too, while respecting the dignity of the post, to keep my personality." Indeed, Bruni was preparing to record her third album when the interview was conducted in her Paris home. Her guitar was lying on the couch, L'Express said. It was unclear whether the couple would officially take up residence in the presidential Elysee Palace. During their courtship, the couple reportedly spent time at Bruni's private home and at a lodge on the grounds of Versailles, where they spent their wedding night. What is clear for Bruni is that divorce is not to be contemplated. "I'm of Italian culture and I wouldn't like to divorce," she said. "So I am the first lady until the end of my husband's mandate and his wife until death."