“My mother saw Giulia before me”: why was Nicolas Sarkozy unable to attend the birth of his daughter in 2011?

Nicolas Sarkozy continues to promote his autobiography The Time of Fighting (Ed. Fayard), released more than a year ago. Last Sunday, the former president participated in the web show Legend by Guillaume Pley, where he expressed himself freely on various subjects, including very personal aspects of his life, indicates TV Magazine.

He notably mentioned his four children: Pierre (39 years old), Jean (38 years old), Louis (27 years old) and Giulia (13 years old). “They taught me as much as I taught them. I have evolved a lot thanks to my children. It's an exchange. I am a free spirit, I impose few things, but what I forbid, I firmly prohibit it.”he explained. He clarified his expectations of them: good reading habits, sports, and above all, kindness.

The first president to become a father during a term in France

Nicolas Sarkozy's love life experienced upheavals during his mandate. After his divorce from Cécilia Ciganer-Albéniz in 2007, he met Carla Bruni, with whom he married in 2008. From this union Giulia was born in 2011, making Sarkozy the first president to become a father during a mandate in France. “It was in the middle of the electoral campaign, I was under pressure from all sides”he remembers.

“I drop Carla off at the clinic, I don't tell her that I'm going to Germany so as not to worry her. Her water has broken, she's at the clinic, I tell her that I'm here, there's no no problem. I leave her with her doctors, I leave my doctor there and I sneak off to Frankfurt and Angela Merkel, all day long, wants to know if it's a boy or a girl. She thinks I am. lie to him but Carla and I, we didn't know not if it was a boy or a girl, we wanted the surprise and suddenly they call me: “You have a daughter”. So I leave the meeting, jump on the plane and arrive at the clinic, it must be 10 p.m. My mother saw Giulia before me”he said.

Although Giulia only spent a few months at the Élysée Palace, she asked her father to show her the place. “I contacted President Macron, and he let us visit the private apartment. My daughter expected gilding and was disappointed by the sobriety of the place”says Sarkozy.

Asked by Guillaume Pley about his role as a father, Sarkozy responded with humor: “I am very weak in front of my daughter, she knows how to get everything she wants from me”. He also confided: “I let her live, but I always watch, I am attentive”.

A surprise video

Guillaume Pley had planned a surprise: a video of Giulia asking him who his favorite child was. Sarkozy stated, without hesitation: “I don’t have a favorite child, they are all important to me”.