It's always astounded me to have succeeded at having kids. It's crazy!

Public people are definitely captives. It wasn't really my ambition, but that's what happened. If I could find another word that would be more precise, I'd tell that I'm captive of my need for acknowledgement. People ask me, "Isn't it terrible to be famous?" Not for me! I sort of need it. To be honest, I always enjoyed it. It's as if it gave me some structure. It's as if I needed someone else's eyes to look at myself.

I hoped that, you know, France wouldn't mind about, you know, the wife of their president to having a job.

I realized that women are still not seen as equal to men. We had a big wave of feminism just before my generation was born. We're still sitting on this wave. There are very militant people and very aggressive women at the top of that wave but I think we have a new version of it now.

I must represent France, and I want to be elegant, and I want the French people to be proud of me.

Everyone needs acknowledgement. When we're kids, we need it from our parents. If you don't get love from your family, you're destroyed inside.

I can no longer seduce because I love my husband. I don’t want to hurt him. I am no longer a man-eater.