Carla Bruni Biographies: 5 Stunning Revelations

(Sept. 16) -- It seems the French are so inured to scandal that the most shocking revelation in two biographies of French first lady Carla Bruni is actually a little nugget about Michelle Obama. Though the two books -- one an unauthorized account of Bruni's life by Besma Lahouri, the other an authorized account by Michael Darmon and Yves Derai, to be published later this year -- include other salacious morsels for those who feed on the details of the rich and powerful, they are not entirely surprising for a former model who finds monogamy boring.

Below, Surge Desk outlines the five most stunning revelations in the books, "Carla: A Secret Life" by Lahouri, which hit shelves yesterday, and "Carla and the Ambitious," by Darmon and Derai.


1. Michelle Obama hates being first lady.
The American first lady is not thrilled with her job, according to "Carla and the Ambitious." The authors write that during a visit to the White House in March, Bruni asked Obama how she liked being the first lady. "Don't ask! It's hell. I can't stand it!" was allegedly her response.

2. Carla has a friend crush on Michelle.
Lahouri writes in her unauthorized biography that Michelle Obama is "the only one in [Bruni's] eyes able to dispute the title of the planet's sexiest and most glamorous first lady." But the feelings are apparently not mutual. The author also writes that "Nicolas [Sarkozy's] bling-bling and Carla's tumultuous former [love] life don't make the Sarkozy couple very good company in the Obamas' eyes," according to The Telegraph.

3. Bruni and Sarkozy used secret agents to find the source of extramarital affair rumors.
Last March, rumors swirled around the French media claiming that Sarkozy and Bruni were each having a little sugar on the side. The reports were apparently untrue, but the French president and his first lady didn't let them go without a fight. Instead, they employed the country's secret services to find out who had started the rumor mongering. Using telephone records and text messages, secret agents traced the smut back to the former justice minister, Rachida Dati, and a woman who was once Sarkozy's sister-in-law, according to The Guardian. Dati denied the accusation.

4. Bruni has had plastic surgery.
Though Bruni has repeatedly denied it, Lahouri writes that Bruni has had copious amounts of plastic surgery to maintain her impeccable appearance, including a nose job in the '90s. She was, after all, a model and singer at one point and is now nurturing a budding acting career.

5. Bruni is a "female Don Juan."
Lahouri's book takes a look back at Bruni's infamous love life, which has included relationships with the likes of Eric Clapton and Mick Jagger. One ex-boyfriend described her as a "tigress" and an "Amazon," according to The Telegraph. But instead of breaking up with men and not looking back, the first lady apparently keeps in close contact with them. Last summer, Bruni invited three former boyfriends to join her and her husband on vacation in the French Riviera.

"Since he married the woman that some called a 'man-eater', [Sarkozy] has had to put up every day with the burdensome tribe -- singers, philosophers, lawyers, bosses, men of the press or politics," Lahouri writes. Quelle horreur!