How Sarkozy wooed 'wild' Bruni

Sarkozy dared Bruni to kiss him in front of dinner guests, the book claims

French President Nicolas Sarkozy "proposed" to Carla Bruni within two hours of meeting the former model, it has been claimed.

Mr Sarkozy, nicknamed Speedy, lived up to his reputation at a blind date arranged by a friend who has now written of their first encounter.

"You'll be my Marilyn to my JFK," the president is said to have told her in front of hushed dinner party guests.

He also dared her to kiss him on the lips in front of others, it is said.

Blind date

The account of the November 2007 dinner party is given in a new book written by the president's friend, advertising guru Jacques Seguela, who was asked to arrange the blind date.

Mr Seguela took notes of the coup de foudre which has now been written up in a book, Unauthorised Autobiography, and published this week.

A friend to both, Mr Seguela, describes in detail what he calls the "unexpected game of seduction between two wild beasts" that played out in front of his guests.

Mr Sarkozy was "on the prowl" for single women after his wife walked out on him shortly after he was elected French president in 2007.

Reputation

He turned up late to the dinner, without a tie and was attracted to Ms Bruni "like a magnet" according to the detailed account.

Mr Seguela's narrative continues saying that the singer, who had dated numerous international celebrities, toyed with the enthusiastic president and teased him about his reputation.

"My reputation is no worse than yours," he reportedly told her. "I know you well without ever meeting you. I understand everything about you."

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"We will announce our engagement. You will see, we will do better than Marilyn and Kennedy," he told her.

"Engagement, never!" she is said to have replied.

Ms Bruni's affair with Mick Jagger also came up in conversation with the president wondering out loud how she had stayed "eight years with a man who has such ridiculous calves".

'Bit of a boor'

At one point during the evening, the president is also said to have whispered into Carla Bruni's ear: "I dare you right now in front of everyone to kiss me on the mouth."

Ms Bruni did not reply. She was later given a lift home in the presidential car and gave Mr Sarakozy her phone number. They did not spend the night together, insists Mr Seguela.

Within minutes of arriving home, Ms Bruni is said to have called her host and declared: "Your chum - what charm, what intelligence, what attention, what energy, what seductiveness. But I find him a bit of a boor. I left him my number and he still hasn't called."

Within seven weeks they were married.

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