For the last week, I've been watching this French soap opera of sorts unfold....with President Francois Hollande. I thought it'd be a one-star episode....but it rolls around and you have to wonder what the outcome will be.
The majority of French folks? Well....if he was actually married to this gal who has played the role of girlfriend and first lady....maybe it'd be a serious thing. Right now, I suspect most French folks are simply asking what the whole story is about?
Francois Hollande is an interesting character. From years ago....he was in a long-term boyfriend-girlfriend relationship with a political pal of sorts....Segolene Royal. Between them....they had four kids (all over twenty now). It was kinda like the Bill and Hillary show for French folks. They both talked alike and did similar speech topics.
At some point in 2007....Francois was running for the job of French president and lost. The party wanted a change.....so his Segolene stepped in and ran a neck-and-neck race as the replacement chief of the party. From comments written out there....it was pretty close and she barely won. She blamed Francois for some negativity and you get the impression that this relationship was screwed up a year or two prior to that....but she stuck around for 'benefits'.
Currently? This ex-girlfriend is a political player, but hasn't won anything.
Francois after 2007.....latches onto some journalist gal.....Valerie Trierweiler. Around a decade ago....she was a major political interviewer for Direct-8 (a channel out of Paris). Divorce proceedings with husband two took three years, with a fair amount of argument and discussion....ending only in 2010. No one is saying much over when she met Francois....but I'd make a humble bet that it was early on in 2005 when she got her job with Direct-8.
So since 2010....Francois has been the steady boyfriend, and as he was elected in 2012....the live-in ex-journalist girlfriend....Valerie....became France's first lady. No arguments....the public accepted this without any questions asked.
In the last month....a Paris magazine finally came up with photos of the President hopping off some motorcycle driven by his personal security staff....at the apartment of some actress gal....Julie Gayet (age 41, seven years younger than the live-in girlfriend).
This week....a Presidential press deal occurred, and a question or two was asked. Private matter, and quiet situation was the general detailed answer. Francois is upset and says he'll sue the magazine who took the photos of him jumping off the scooter. Expected haul from a court episode? Well....it's limited by French law. The max for this type of situation is an apology and 50-thousand Euro ($55,000). No one is sure about how this would go.....since anyone on a public street can take photos, and you can't be sure it's him because of the stupid helmet he has on.
The odds here? He's likely been seeing this Julie-gal (the new girlfriend) for at least three or four years. You could even take a guess that he's seen her for the entire past decade.
All this leads up to Valerie (gal number two)....being kinda upset and in some stress ward of a major French hospital. Doctors even told Francois that it just wouldn't be smart for him to come in and do any talking. She's all pepped up and likely on medication until she simmers down.
None of this would matter much except Francois is supposed to haul off in a couple of weeks to the US for some big meeting with President Obama. It was supposed to be a Presidential dinner, and some first lady is supposed to tag along. Will girlfriend number two or girlfriend number three be the appointed first lady? Naturally, French folks now get interested in stuff like this.
Girlfriend number one? Well....from what I read....no one has asked her opinion about this stuff.....but I'm guessing that she'd just grin and say that he's doing mostly the same stuff that forced them to part ways.
And this brings me to this conclusion of sorts. Is there anyway to say positively that there isn't a girlfriend number four or five in this whole mess? Well....you just can't say for sure. The one thing is for sure....a socialist kind of French political guy....sure does have a lot of opportunities to meet nice-looking French gals who are socialists as well.
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