In “A perfect mother”, this Thursday April 28, 2022 on TF1, Julie Gayet returns to the small screen in the role of the mother of a young girl accused of murder. A role taking for the companion of François Hollande, less present on the front of the stage in recent months. Discreet, the actress nevertheless makes sure to appear regularly on the arm of the former President of the Republic. And she has a very good reason for that.
Everyone knows the beginnings of the love story that unites François Hollande and Julie Gayet. At the time, the politician was President of the Republic, in a relationship with the journalist Valérie Trierweiler. And yet, he had managed to get pinned by paparazzi while he paid intimate visits to the actress, solo on his scooter, croissants in hand. Inevitably, the story had made the headlines of the tabloid press, and was a real humiliation for the scorned woman, who had taken her revenge through the book “Thank you for this moment“.
Video. The Minute by Julie Gayet
No question of living in the shadow of the President of the Republic
Once the storm passed, Julie Gayet never expressed a desire to assert herself as First Lady alongside her companion. For fear of controversy or disinterest? Hard to say. What is certain is that the actress and producer had a career of her own and did not wish to shine other than through her talent. The attention of the paparazzi and the “peopolitical” press, she would have done well without.
In 2018, in the columns of Paris Match, Julie Gayet had been very clear about what she thought of the role of First Lady, and the idea of sacrificing her career for a man: “We elect a person, not a couple. The function of First Lady is sexist. It’s a job that requires you to stop your job, and you don’t get paid.” Impossible for one who grew up surrounded by “strong and independent women”, and who claims the same freedoms. From the Elysée, she did not see much, contenting herself with the private apartments of the palace. The rest ? “I never set foot there. Even in the movie theater. I never went to a ceremony, I refused official dinners.” Assured, she specifies: “I made sure that there was a very strong separation between me, our story, and his work.
Support at all times
Instead of becoming First Lady, the actress and producer decided to claim “Lady of Heart“. “Being alongside the president without taking the place of first lady. And let those whose job it is, the advisers, the secretaries, the protocol officers, who shouldn’t have to manage the campaign.” A way for her to be alongside the man she love and support him, especially since she is aware of it: “We came out of the quinquennium bloodless. It was madly violent, at no time was there any respite. I was trying to re-energize the president, to take care of him, to listen.”
Support tinged with respect, and which is not one-sided, as she told Le Parisien: “The most important thing is that there is real respect for the work of one and all. each other, and the fact of existing independently of each other. This is really equality between men and women. Neither of us would allow ourselves to intervene in the domain of the other.” Always present for each other, their appearances in public together remain rare, but always charged with complicity.
An independence that fuels rumors
On paper, the independence of Julie Gayet and François Hollande within their couple demonstrates a certain modernity. But in fact, their discretion and their desire to preserve their secret garden has also served as the breeding ground for many rumors about their couple, and their love. “We always said, with François, that everyone had their career, their job and that we didn’t have to appear together. But if we don’t, we say that we are separated”, she lamented in the columns of World in 2020. A real regret for the actress and producer who believes that she does not have to show her love for it to exist. “We know we love each other, our private life is nobody’s business.”
Video. Julie Gayet in a relationship with François Hollande: she reveals her worst fear linked to their love
Remarks that echo those made two years earlier in 2018, during an interview with the Dauphine Libere : “I am an actress. I defend my ideas and my values through my work. I have always protected my private sphere, even before François. That does not mean hiding, but we do not want to highlight our privacy. We just want to live quietly because that’s who we are.” And to conclude: “It is important for me to stay next to each other, with each of our respective professional lives. I think it’s a fairly simple way to share our happiness.” A happiness that they want to savor in private, far from the judgments of the public or their detractors.
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