“I didn’t complain when there was an article in the press I didn’t like,” says Bruni alluding to Trierweiler in an interview with the weekly VSD. France’s unofficial First Lady has often criticised articles about herself in the press. 

“And I only had two advisors,” she adds. Trierweiler reportedly has four to six advisors at the Elysee Palace.

The partner of President François Hollande has been under fire since she let slip an indiscreet tweet that incensed the French political elite. During the legislative elections, Trierweiler wished good luck to an opponent of Ségolène Royal – Hollande’s ex-partner and mother of their four children. 

The opponent then went onto to winning the election against Royal. 

Since the incident, Trierweiler has kept a low profile. She stayed away from her twitter account and did not accompany Hollande to a climate conference in Brazil. 

In an unusual coincidence, the former wife of Nicolas Sarkozy, Cécilia Attias, also rounded on the novice in the Elysée Palace. 

“When you’re first lady, you don’t choose, you take the good with the bad, or you don’t take it at all,” says Cécilia.

Cécilia Attias was first lady from May until October 2007, when she divorced Nicolas Sarkozy.