Carla Bruni flashed her supermodel legs as France’s former First Lady posed for the cover of Harper’s Bazaar Spain while admitting ‘I always wanted to be famous’ in the new interview.
The Italian-French former model, 57, also got candid about her marriage to France’s former president Nicolas Sarkozy following a whirlwind romance in 2008, adding the best part of that phase was ‘meeting my man’.
She showed off her range in nine different looks for the magazine’s cover shoot, with Carla donning pieces by Chanel, Prada, Celine, and Gucci that accentuated her figure.
For the cover of the magazine, Carla was styled in a butter yellow silk jacket, with greige accents, over a pair of dark brown stockings from Calzedonia that drew attention to her lean legs.
Her base makeup was flawless and the mother-of-one’s complexion shone through a light layer of foundation, as Carla stared straight into the camera while striking a pose that was equal parts sultry and fierce.
In another image from the shoot, the Turin native teased a hint of thigh in a tweed Chanel skirt, paired with a matching jacket and heeled iterations of the fashion house’s iconic black and beige Mary Jane flats.
Her rich brown hair was styled in loose waves that framed Carla’s face, with France’s First Lady of Style reflecting on her life in the Élysée Palace, or the official residence of the country’s president.
She told the magazine the ‘best memory’ of that period of her life was ‘meeting my man, because everything was wonderful, fantastic, and extremely interesting’.
One glam shot of the singer, who embarked on a music career after retiring from fashion, showed her playful side in a thigh-skimming wool crepe dress adorned with feathers from Celine.
She paired the outfit with black stockings, this time from Falke, black pointed kitten heels from Celine, and Bvlgari’s leather Gingko Bag.
Speaking of her love for music, Carla shared ‘I write when I feel something’ and admitted that she plays several instruments – like the piano, and violin – ‘badly but with passion’.
She also said it was the responsibility of anyone in a position of power, including kings and queens, to use their platform ‘to help people’.
‘It’s their job after all,’ she told the fashion publication.
However, Carla added, she isn’t a ‘revolutionary person’ and would never have ‘entered politics on my own’ if it wasn’t for love.
‘I don’t like big movements or militias. I don’t even like politics or power. I don’t believe in human action,’ she laughed.
‘I believe more in the Universe, in the sacred.’
In one especially striking picture from the shoot, Carla seductively unhooks the strap of a denim dress by Jean Paul Gaultier that was paired with diamond jewellery from Bvlgari that highlighted her well-defined shoulders.
Her toned figure might have something to do with Carla’s new hobby; earlier this month, she shared a video of her pole dancing on Instagram and declared it’s an ‘incredible way to get fit’.
The wife of the right-wing politician, who served as France‘s president from 2008 until 2012, looked incredible in a fitted blue vest top and navy hot pants as she pulled herself up the pole before spinning around.
Her latest cover comes after Carla was charged with corruption offences, which could see her going to prison, last summer.
She is alleged to have been involved in a criminal conspiracy to ‘whitewash’ her husband, former President Nicolas Sarkozy, 69, over allegations that he accepted millions in cash from the late Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi.
In July – following Carla being questioned by examining magistrates – a judicial source in Paris said she was being prosecuted in relation to ‘witness tampering and fraud in an organised gang’.
Both extremely serious offences are punishable by up to 10 years, with sentences going up to 20 with aggravating circumstances such as gang membership.
In particular, she is accused of being part of a £4million campaign dubbed ‘Operation Save Sarko’ – a complex and illegal plan to try and keep Sarkozy, who is already a convicted criminal, out of a jail cell.
Carla was ‘placed under judicial supervision and banned from contacting all those involved in the case’ apart from her husband, the source told the AFP news agency.
The bail conditions will be in place right up until Bruni appears before in a criminal trial.
There was no initial comment from Carla, who has been cooperating with agents from France’s Central Office for the Fight against Corruption and Financial and Tax Offenses.
She is a close friend of Mimi Marchand – a French media fixer who has been placed under formal investigation for ‘witness tampering’ and ‘criminal corruption’ in the same case.
Marchand, 77 and nicknamed ‘The Paparazzi Queen’, is accused of paying former French-Lebanese arms dealer Ziad Takieddine, 74, to drop a sworn testament that he arranged for millions of dollars from Colonel Gaddafi to be paid to Sarkozy.
During an interview which was published in Paris Match magazine four years ago, Takieddine withdraw his claim that suitcases stuffed with cash had been delivered to Sarkozy’s colleagues.
The money was used to fund the 2007 election campaign that saw Sarkozy win his one and only term in office as President of France, it was alleged.
Sarkozy used the 2020 interview to falsely claim that he had been cleared because ‘the truth is out’.
But Marchand – who also denies any wrongdoing – is said by prosecutors to have offered Takieddine inducements to change his story.
The case involving Carla is dubbed ‘Operation Save Sarko’, and is running in tandem with the Libyan funding case, in which Sarkozy has already been indicted.
Takieddine, who is currently in Lebanon, is said to have received the equivalent of up to £4million to ‘change his story,’ according to prosecution claims.
Bruni has continually denied any involvement in ‘Operation Save Sarko,’ saying she tries to avoid legal cases involving her husband, who has two criminal convictions to date.
She has previously said: ‘When people talk to me about it, it puts me in a situation of anger and indignation which does not help my husband.’
Carla added: ‘I don’t have the beginnings of the slightest curiosity about my husband’s affairs.’
But detectives claim that Carla deleted all of the messages she had exchanged with Marchand on the encrypted Signal app, before Marchand’s indictment in June 2021.
Sarkozy has been charged with corruption, ‘illicit funding of an election campaign’, ‘receiving misappropriated public funds’, and ‘criminal conspiracy’ in relation to the Gaddafi scandal, and is due to go on trial next year.
