French first lady Carla Bruni-Sarkozy speaks with journalist Jean-Pierre Pernault, on May 16, 2011 on a set of French TV channel TF1 in Boulogne-Billancourt, outside Paris, prior to take part in the lunch time news show of TF1.
“I’m glad to be having a grandchild,” Pal Sarkozy, 82, told Europe’s most widely-read newspaper.
Neither the president nor his wife “want to know the sex the child, but I’m sure it’s a girl who’ll be as beautiful as Carla,” he added.
A cryptic television interview by France’s 43-year-old first lady on Monday had fuelled speculation she was pregnant.
Journalists had widely expected Bruni to announce she was pregnant when she scheduled a live interview on the top lunch time news show of private channel TF1, but she tantalisingly avoided confirming it openly.
Instead of asking the million-dollar question, presenter Jean-Pierre Pernaut quizzed Bruni for several minutes on her charity work against child illiteracy, before dispatching the pregnancy issue in a matter of seconds.
“I know you don’t like people talking about your private life, but I just want to congratulate you,” Pernaut said.
The supermodel-turned-singersmiled shyly and replied: “I congratulate you too,” without saying what for. The interview then ended.
A former top model turned singer, Bruni-Sarkozy already has a son born in 2001, while her husband, whom she married in February 2008, has three sons from two previous marriages, born respectively in 1985, 1986 and 1997.