Her reputation as a man-eating party girl has been shaped by passionate affairs with notable English rock stars including Mick Jagger and Eric Clapton.
However, now that she is an expectant mother and France’s First Lady, Carla Bruni-Sarkozy may find herself facing a few raised eyebrows regarding her new ‘close friend’ identity.
This individual is Pete Doherty, the convicted criminal known for drug use, who leads the bands Libertines and Babyshambles.
Reports suggest the two met earlier this month and quickly found a connection through their mutual love for music and poetry.
‘Pete has connected with Carla, and they share a genuine bond,’ stated Doherty’s manager, Andrew Boyd.
With plenty of time on her hands currently, Carla has canceled all official engagements due to her impending first child with President Nicolas Sarkozy due this autumn.
She is instead spending time in her own Paris residence or at various presidential locations throughout France.
The 43-year-old supermodel-turned-pop singer often entertains close friends from the music scene, as she aims to release another album next year.
Doherty, aged 32, frequently travels on the Eurostar high-speed train between London and Paris and is reported to possess a flat in the Marais district of the city.
He is scheduled to perform at multiple concerts across France in August and September, including the We Love Green ecological music festival in Paris.
Talk has even surfaced about Doherty collaborating with Carla, who has achieved sales of over two million records in France.
According to Mr. Boyd, the unlikely duo have met numerous times, communicate regularly via phone, and have exchanged lengthy emails.
A friend of Doherty mentioned, ‘They have met up several times and really clicked. Pete truly enjoys Carla’s company and feels flattered that she desires to spend time with him.’
Beyond music and poetry, Carla and Doherty are connected through the fashion world.
Both have attended haute couture events in Paris and participated in last year’s fashion week, where Doherty held a ‘guerilla gig’ on Avenue Montaigne near the Champs Elysees to mark the opening of a new upscale branch of Joseph.
However, Doherty’s criminal history may not be well-received by the notoriously right-wing Mr. Sarkozy, who once referred to young lawbreakers as ‘scum’ deserving to be ‘washed away with a power hose.’
Doherty’s past romantic relationships include Kate Moss, fashion model Irina Lazareanu, and singer Lisa Moorish; he has been incarcerated three times and has faced court appearances 13 times.
Earlier this year, French model Alexandra Paressant, 30, revealed that she had passionate nights with Doherty after meeting him at a gig in Paris.
Before marrying Mr. Sarkozy in 2008, Carla stated in an interview, ‘I am a tamer of men’ and expressed her boredom with ‘monogamy.’
Other notable former partners include American billionaire Donald Trump and Laurent Fabius, a former French socialist prime minister. She previously lived with French publisher Jean-Paul Enthoven but fell for his son, philosopher Raphael Enthoven, with whom she has a nine-year-old son named Aurelien.
Doherty was released from prison quite recently on July 6 after serving three months of a six-month sentence for cocaine possession.
by Wallace McTavish
