Life and Times of Ex French President Hollande and women

Ever since former French President Francois Hollande hit headlines and sparked off a major political row on India's politics vis-a-vis Rafale deal, there is also another version to the story going on in India and that's about his personal life and 'girlfriend' Julie Gayet.
"Hollande has allegedly proved more successful in his love life than in the opinion polls" - reported the UK-based 'The Telegraph' once.

The French magazine Mediapart says there are suspicions on the "circumstances" by which  Reliance Group was assigned as Dassault Aviation’s partner in the building of the Rafale jets. 

"At the very time the deal was struck, Reliance provided funding for a film produced by Hollande’s personal partner, the actress Julie Gayet," says the magazine to whom in an interview Hollande - knowingly or unknowingly - has given a fresh ammunition to Congress President Rahul Gandhi and others to strike at the Modi government - which otherwise by its various anti-corruption crusades have tried to corner Gandhi, his mother Sonia, brother in law Robert Vadra and also colleagues like P Chidambaram.

Mr Gandhi - obviously - wasted no time and tweeted on Thursday evening: "The PM (Modi) personally negotiated & changed the Rafale deal behind closed doors. Thanks to François Hollande, we now know he personally delivered a deal worth billions of dollars to a bankrupt Anil Ambani".

P Chidambaram was not far behind and wrote in the micro blogging site: "In the NDA negotiated Rafale aircraft deal, we have got no aircraft, we have got only lies. What is the new lie that the government will put out in response to Mr Hollande?"

"Although many know her as the girlfriend of former French President Francois Hollande, Gayet is a successful actress-turned-producer who co-produced, through her Paris-based Rouge Intl., two movies that were nominated for an Oscar earlier this year — Ziad Doueiri’s “The Insult” and Agnes Varda’s “Faces Places”," says a report in popular magazine 'Variety'. Gayet also figured in the list of
'Rising Female French Producers' who have made their mark.

According to BBC report, the 45-year-old Gayet also has acted in film 'Quai d'Orsay' - a 2013 satirical film centred on the French foreign ministry.
"Her filmography also includes the titles 'Shall We Kiss?' and 'My Best Friend' among dozens of others," the report says. According to various international reports, the possibility of Rafale business for Reliance Defence could be linked to the 'timing' of Anil Ambani's Reliance Entertainment striking a deal for sponsoring the film 'Tout là-haut (English title, 'To the top'). "The film deal happens in January 24, 2016 and two days later the then French president Hollande arrives India for Republic Day parade and inks the deal....The rest is perhaps more than a history," says a JD(U) leader.

BJP's allies do not want to either defend the government or put pressure on the Prime Minister as of now and would mainly waiting in the wings and testing the ground.

But media reports says Hollande's chequered political life has had dose of number of other women too in his life.

"French President Francois Hollande has appointed his former partner, Segolene Royal, to the cabinet, two months after separating from his official partner, Valerie Trierweiler," the BBC said in a 2014 report. In June 2012, another woman in Hollande's life Valerie Trierweiler used Twitter to back a candidate who was pitted against Hollande's preferred Segolene Royal.
In 2014, Valerie Trierweiler also attended Nelson Mandela’s memorial service with President Hollande and other world leaders. 

The reputed magazine 'The Spectator' once summed up the story well for Mr Hollande: ".....the truth is that Mr Hollande is a bachelor: he’s never been married; he’s not technically an adulterer. That gives him, you’d think, a bit of leeway on the sexual front; the fact he’s never made any vows to anyone (which says something about him) and so hasn’t broken any".

ends