Carla Bruni fell for French President Nicolas Sarkozy the night she met him, says John Follain in the London Times. “My first impression of Nicolas, and I still have that impression, was of a very magnetic man, with very rare intelligence and energy.” Bruni clenches her fists on that last word. “I’m pretty bewitched by him.” The two met six months into his presidency, when Sarkozy—whose marriage had crumbled—let it be known that he wanted some new female companionship. So a friend arranged a dinner party and sat him next to the Italian-born singer and model. “It was pretty much love at first sight,” Bruni recalls. Sarkozy asked her to marry him soon after they began dating, and though she’s said she doesn’t believe in monogamy, she accepted immediately. “I understood that he was a man of commitment. He starts down a road and he goes to the end of it.” Five months into the marriage, Bruni is blissful; she’s found that despite Sarkozy’s strength and protectiveness, he has his tender side as well. “My husband who is so, so man in a certain sense, has a very feminine sensitivity. A man can have feminine values, he can be supersensitive, without being feminine. But Nicolas is very sentimental. That’s rare for a man in his position.”
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