Two French politicians have opened up about their love lives in what seems to be a celebrity-press-friendly move laying the ground for a run at the presidency next year.
Gabriel Attal, who became France’s youngest ever and first openly gay prime minister in 2024, was the latest to bare all in his first book that came out last week.
In it, the 37-year-old, who is soon expected to announce his bid for the country’s top job, speaks at length about his private life.
He recounts his father’s addictions and early death, the struggles of his divorced mother, as well as his sisters battling antisemitism or wage discrimination.
But he also devotes a chapter to “the man of my life”, European commissioner and former minister Stéphane Séjourné.
“I have nothing to hide—and certainly not the man I love,” the centrist politician writes in “En homme libre” (literally, “As a Free Man”).
“But it is indeed for my struggles, my values, and my ideas that I want to forge my bond with the French people,” he added.
Jordan Bardella, the leader of France’s far-right party, has already written two books.
The 30-year-old is expected to run if veteran candidate Marine Le Pen is barred from office over an alleged fake jobs scandal in European Parliament.
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But he made his most sensational splash to date earlier this month when glossy magazine Paris Match published images of him and his girlfriend Princess Maria Carolina of Bourbon-Two Sicilies, 22.
It claimed to have “stumbled upon” the conservatively dressed pair along the seaside in Corsica.
“We decided to stop hiding and to accept what, for us, has now become an obvious fact in our private life,” he later told the France 2 evening news.
“I’m very happy,” he added.
‘Boost their profile’
Philippe Moreau-Chevrolet, a professor in communications at Sciences Po, said the race was obviously on to replace President Emmanuel Macron, who steps down next year after serving two consecutive terms.
“The presidential campaign kicked off with Bardella in Paris Match. Clearly, that was the starting whistle,” he said.
“Then we had Gabriel Attal’s turn, along the same lines.”
Moreau-Chevrolet has said “revealing one’s private life” was an essential part of any successful presidential bid.
High-profile politicians have long turned to the pages of Paris Match.
Former president Nicolas Sarkozy gave the magazine an interview in 2007 before he was elected.
François Hollande also graced the front cover with his then partner journalist Valérie Trierweiler before he was elected in 2012.
Macron and his wife Brigitte posed for Paris Match on a beach in 2016, before he took office the following year.
Political communications expert Gaspard Gantzer however argued it was not essential for candidates to share their private life.
“It’s useful for those who need to boost their profile,” he said.
“Ticking the ‘private life’ box sparks conversation among people who aren’t necessarily interested in politics.”
‘Privacy is more important’
Other candidates who have declared they are vying for the Élysee have not invited the French public into their personal lives.
Édouard Philippe, another former prime minister so far seen to have the best chance of beating the far right in the upcoming election, has shared details about his love of Bruce Springsteen and boxing.
He even opened up in 2023 about his struggle with alopecia hair loss and vitiligo, which changes skin colour.
But the 55-year-old mayor of the northern port city of Le Havre does not speak extensively about his family.
Gantzer said a candidate might choose to be different.
“If everyone is revealing their private life, you may have a card to play by deciding not to do so,” he said.
“And you can build a message around that: ‘My wife’s and my children’s privacy is more important than anything else.’ That can also appeal to the French,” he added.
(FRANCE 24 with AFP)
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