Carla Bruni on music and Sarkozy

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I’d thought she might not feel up to the interview, which isto promote her third album, Comme si de rien n’était(As If Nothing Had Happened). The previous afternoon, at a farewellceremony at Tel Aviv airport, security guards rushed her andSarkozy into their plane after an Israeli guard reportedly shothimself in the head about 200 yards away. Bodyguards also usheredthe Israeli president, Shimon Peres, and prime minister, EhudOlmert, into bulletproof cars.
But Carla appears unfazed. “I just saw the security guardscome quickly up to us,” she says in her husky voice.“One said to me, ‘Madam, you have to run into theplane.’ I was a bit shocked, but I wasn’t afraid. Ilooked back to see where my husband was. I ran up the stairsbecause they were pushing me. It’s only afterwards that Ifound out what had happened.” Does she worry that the guardused her and her husband’s presence as a backdrop for hissuicide? “No, I don’t think so. When you take your ownlife, there’s something much more vast at stake.”
The 40-year-old seems to be taking this, and the rest of the seachange she jokingly calls early in the interview “theapocalypse”, in her stride. The clues to her ability toaccommodate dramatic change lie in her early childhood, in what sherefers to as her “ruptures”. Carla was born to amusical and wealthy family in Turin, in northern Italy. Her mother,Marisa Borini, was a concert pianist, and Alberto Bruni Tedeschi,who she thought was her father (more later), was a composer, atyre-making industrialist and an art collector. Alberto also headedTurin’s Teatro Regio, the main concert hall, and guests atthe castle in the Po valley, rich in ancient frescoes, old mastersand even Chinese ornaments, included Maria Callas, Artur Rubinsteinand Herbert von Karajan.
When Carla was seven, the family – her sister is ValeriaBruni Tedeschi, the film director; her brother, Virginio, a graphicdesigner, died last year of cancer – fled to Paris. Theparents feared a kidnapping by the Red Brigades terrorists plaguingItaly at the time. Carla says she was too young to feel any fearherself. She sees the move as her life’s first rupture. Shesays the word in French; it’s also the word Sarkozy uses todescribe the new dawn he promises France. “That’shelped me, because every time I’ve had to make a rupture, abig change, I have the memory of that move to Paris. I got used tochange at an early age. It wasn’t a bad memory, because I wasvery close to my grandmother, who was French, so I was goingsomewhere where I had roots,” she says.
A year after the move, a teacher gave her class a guitar lesson.Carla mimes strumming a guitar, sings “Oh, Susanna/Oh,don’t you cry for me,” then explains:“That’s what she played for us. There was a guitar athome and I spent the next two days working on that song. Ididn’t do my homework until I got it right. I realisedI’d found my gateway into music, and I’ve played theguitar ever since almost every day.”
At the age of 19, a new rupture. She stopped studying art andarchitecture at the Sorbonne to start modelling. “I justbrought my underground Metro pass to an agency – it was theonly photograph I had. They took me.” She became asupermodel, the face of Guess and Versace, earning an estimated$7.5m a year in a 12-year career. She says: “Modelling taughtme right from the start that I and my image are two differentthings. That helps me a lot today.”
In 1996, as Alberto, the man she had seen as her father, lay dying,her mother told her that her father was in fact Maurizio Remmert,an Italian businessman and guitar-player with whom Marisa had asix-year affair, and that Valeria and Virginio were herhalf-siblings. Carla insists that this, which she kept secret untilJanuary this year, was not a traumatic revelation: “For me itwas a relief, a gift. I felt relieved, the way you feel whensomeone explains something to you. In any case, the man who broughtme up is still very present in my life. What did trouble me wasthat it all came out when I got married, and when it’swritten up by other people it’s always a bit ugly. But thisis a beautiful story.” Carla was 19 when she met Remmert, whowas told she was his daughter when she was born; Alberto was alsotold at the time. The meeting, Remmert says, was “natural andcalm. Our relationship is very healthy”. They talk often onthe phone, and Carla invited him to her wedding.
She stopped modelling at 29, feeling her career was on the wane andfrustrated at being surrounded by ever-younger “littlegirls”. Her career as a singer had just as fantastic a startas her modelling career. At first she didn’t have much faithin her own voice, though she had plenty in her lyrics and thoughtof offering them to others. When she did make a demo recording,wary of record labels rejecting her simply because she was anex-supermodel, she sent it anonymously to the Paris independentlabel Naïve. Her first album, the 2002 folk-rhythmQuelqu’un m’a dit (Somebody Told Me), sold 2m copies.Four years later, the album No Promises, inspired by poems by W BYeats, Emily Dickinson and Dorothy Parker, sold 400,000.
Her private life, or what she calls on her latest album –using the past tense – her ability “to make menwaltz”, has fed gossip magazines. They called her a femmefatale, tracking her relationships with Eric Clapton and MickJagger (the latter lasted for seven years), the actors VincentPerez and Charles Berling, and the Socialist former prime ministerLaurent Fabius. She told an interviewer in February 2007:“I’m monogamous occasionally, but I prefer polygamy andpolyandry. Love lasts a long time, but burning desire, two to threeweeks.” Falling in love with the married RaphaëlEnthoven, a philosopher, prompted more scandal, as she waspreviously with his father, the publisher Jean-Paul. Raphaëldivorced his wife and had a son with Carla, Aurélien, nowseven. “Before having Aurélien, I was a bit of atomboy, obsessed by doing things and travelling,” she says.“My son slowed me down, because he is more important than me.For me, femininity means making room for a son or a husband, and Ididn’t do much of that before.” Does she lovedifferently now? “Certainly. There’s a time for youthand a time for maturity. You can’t remain a bambina [littlegirl] all your life.”
Her separation from Enthoven in May 2007 was “like a divorce,even if there had been no signature on a piece of paper”.“It was an amicable separation. Splitting up as lovers is sadenough, but when there’s a kid involved, you’reseparating a family. For me it was like a death in the family– plus my brother had died.” She turned back to hermusic a month after the separation, starting to write the songs forher third album. She continued taking singing lessons, twice aweek, as she has done for the past 15 years. She used to lose hervoice when she felt moved by something – “That takesthe biscuit for a singer!” – but the lessons have longovercome that.
When the advertising and public-relations guru JacquesSéguéla, who had masterminded election campaigns forthe late Socialist president François Mitterrand, invitedher to a dinner party at his house in Marnes-la-Coquette outsideParis last November, Carla accepted immediately. She was eager tomeet people and make new friends, and although she is politicallyon the left, she was “very curious” about meeting her“not-so-blind date”, the centre-right Sarkozy, who haddivorced his second wife, Cécilia, also an ex-model, a monthearlier. Six months into his presidency, Sarkozy had told variousfriends, including Séguéla, that he wanted to meetnew faces, and Séguéla thought it would be good forhim to meet Carla; each knew the other would be there and they werethe only singles at the party.
Did she really say before meeting Sarkozy, “I want a man withnuclear power,” as one book about their relationship claims?She replies: “I never said that. I didn’t even know hehad nuclear power, poverino [poor man]. I found out afterwards. Howsad to have nuclear power: it means you might use it.”
Carla was seated at table on the president’s right. “Myfirst impression of Nicolas, and I still have that impression, wasof a very magnetic man, with very rare intelligence andenergy,” she says, clenching her fists on the last word.“The impression I had when I met my son’s father wasfraternity and kindness; perhaps that’s why it was easy forme to have a son by him. With my husband, it’s magnetism andcomplementarity. I’m pretty bewitched by him; plus I’vealways liked to talk with my friends or the few men I’veloved, and with him it’s a conversation without end, whetherwe’re at home or on an official trip to Israel.”
Carla has said in the past that she always took the first step withlovers. At the dinner, Sarkozy first politely apologised toSéguéla’s wife, who was sitting on his left, toturn towards Carla and talk to her all evening. So Sarkozy took thefirst step? “I did too. I talked to him. It was pretty muchlove at first sight.” When the evening ended, she asked himif he had a car and he deposited her at her door. From the next dayhe is reported to have wooed her assiduously, sending her textmessages, flowers and gifts.
She recalls that when Sarkozy asked her to marry him soon afterthey met, she joked about him having married twice.“What’s this, is it a tic, a habit you’vegot?” she said. “But I understood he was a man ofcommitment. He starts down a road and he goes to the end of it. Iaccepted immediately.” What made her decide to marry?“I’d never felt the need to formalise a relationshipthat way before, but falling in love with him was for me a totalcommitment. We both love life, we’re not conventional in acertain way – he’d married before and I loved adventure– and we have our love in common. He protects me, not fromhis world of politics, which is a very tough world, but from allthe rest; not because he’s president of the republic, butbecause he’s protective by nature.”
But she did lose sleep over her decision. “This wasn’tonly about marrying the man I love. The man I love is thepresident, and I feared this would have an impact on all myacquaintances, not just professional but also my family. I was alsoconcerned that my son should love this man and this man should lovemy son, and that worked immediately. Aurélien is lucky,because he has no wicked stepmothers or stepfathers. The othernight when we were in Israel, he stayed with Raphaël and hisgirlfriend, Chloé. He’d got a rash from some nettlesand she took care of him all night.”
Carla, who has said that all the men she has loved had a strongfeminine side, didn’t hesitate to say that Sarkozy was noexception. “My husband, who is so, so man in a certain sense,has a very feminine sensitivity. A man can have feminine values, hecan be super-sensitive, without being feminine. Nicolas is verysentimental. That’s rare for a man in his position. Feelingsare the most important thing in his life. Of course he’sambitious – he wouldn’t have got where he is withoutthat – and he’s a hard worker, but I think his threesons are his absolute priority. If he’d spent all his lifethinking only of his political career, he wouldn’t havechildren who are so happy, well balanced and intelligent.”
Sarkozy has three sons: two by his first marriage – Pierre,22, a rap producer, and Jean, 21, a politician – and Louis,11, by his second. Carla says that Aurélien is very fond ofLouis. “Earlier today, Aurélien got a medal in judoand he first called Raphaël, then Nicolas, who’s a blackbelt. Nicolas was in a meeting but took two minutes to speak to himand say, ‘Well done.’ ”
Carla has admitted to putting a foot wrong a couple of times sincemeeting Sarkozy. She has regretted that paparazzi photographedAurélien on the president’s shoulders during a NewYear holiday in Jordan. And she publicly apologised to theleft-of-centre magazine Le Nouvel Observateur after she compared itto publications of the Vichy regime that collaborated with NaziGermany. Her comment was prompted by a report that eight daysbefore her marriage, Sarkozy sent a text message to Cécilia,his ex-wife, which read: “Come back and I’ll canceleverything.” Both Sarkozy, who sued but then withdrew hissuit, and Cécilia have denied this.
She is still feeling her way around her new role as first lady.“I mustn’t change myself,” she says. “Butthere is something I’ve learnt for myself in this new role,and that’s prudence. Before, when I gave interviews, I had alot of fun cracking jokes. But a joke looks very different whenit’s printed in a newspaper. I still have a laugh in everydaylife, but otherwise I’m cautious about what I say. It has aneffect on my husband, on public opinion.” On his popularity,which is in the doldrums? “Not so much his popularity as thetask he’s undertaken, which is an important one. Idon’t want to interfere with it. I love him.”
Carla is clearly thrilled by the warmth of the reception she got onher visit to Britain in March. Before the trip, France’sfirst state visit there in more than a decade, she worried shewould “not be up to the mark”. She asked the wife ofthe British ambassador to Paris for advice on how to behave withthe royal family. “I’m not used to this kind ofthing,” she explains. “It’s difficult to pleasethe British; they are a very demanding people, and they were a bitscandalised by my previous life. But they understood that I couldpass from one life to another.” There were more raisedeyebrows on the day of her arrival on British soil, with twoBritish newspapers splashing on their front pages a full-lengthnude photograph of Bruni taken 15 years earlier by Michel Comtewhich was to be auctioned by Christie’s (it fetched£46,000). How much did that upset her? “It didn’tupset me. I worried that it would be bad for my husband, but I feelno shame for my past. I’m proud of everything I’vedone.” She pauses for this to sink in – she meanseverything, including her private life. “It’s a picturethat was originally taken for an anti-Aids campaign,” shecontinues. “It’s true that when I was a young model, Ididn’t have problems doing pictures that were a bit naked aslong as they were artistic. I never did soft-porn photographs– I don’t have the body for it,” she laughs.
What impression did the British make on her? “I must tell youthat I adore the British, because they’re eccentric,they’re very traditional and at the same time they’revery original. The British are very special: you can see it intheir art, their films, their poetry. For example, the protocol ofthe royal family is fantastic – it’s very rigid and atthe same time it’s very calm. The royal family make beingwith them very easy because they are so considerate; they talk toyou with huge kindness. The Queen and Prince Philip spoke perfectFrench, they explained everything about Windsor, the history of thecastle, what the coats of arms on the walls were, why some had beenpainted in white – it was because the nobles weretraitors.” The Duke of Edinburgh proved an attentive host.“Prince Philip showed us to our bedroom. He told us it wasthe room in which his mother and his grandmother were born. Allthese things were fascinating. They made the protocol much lighterto bear, and they helped me to enter their lives.” Carlapraises the Queen as “an exquisite person. She is everythingyou would imagine of a queen, and I don’t know if there arestill people like that in the world”. What in particular hadimpressed her about the Queen? “Her intelligence, her perfectFrench – and she looks so well.” Sarkozy, Carlarelates, asked the Queen at one point: “Majesty, do you everfeel tired?” The Queen replied in French: “Of course Ifeel tired, but no one can see it.” Carla enthuses:“That’s courtesy, that’s good upbringing, becauseshe doesn’t impose anything on you despite the importantposition she has held since her youth.”
I mention the way newspapers rounded on Sarah Brown’s dresssense, comparing it unfavourably with Carla’s. Carla sticksby the prime minister’s wife: “Sarah is a very elegantperson; her style is classic. I’d prepared myself to go toLondon; I wanted to honour Britain and France. I was the outsidergoing into Sarah’s world, so she could dress normally. AndSarah hasn’t done 12 years of modelling like me, so shedoesn’t go looking for clothes like I do.”
Asked what she thinks of British men, she says: “I like theBritish very much because they accept their femininity. I adoreMonty Python. I adore this thing that comes from the theatre ofcenturies ago, of Shakespeare, where the roles of women were allplayed by men. I think this idea of dressing up as a woman is greatfun. A Frenchman or an Italian would never do this.”
Carla’s music is a source of stability and comfort in helpingher weather the biggest rupture of her life. She lists “mymusic, my family and my friends” as helping her cope. Thetitle of her latest album, As If Nothing Had Happened, is both atribute to a photograph by her late brother, Virginio, and a nod tothe way she has tried to stick to her musical career, and beyondthat to her life as she knew it pre-Sarkozy. The music itself is athrowback to the folk rhythm of her first album, but much morevaried, stretching from waltzes to blues and slow rock.
Both her mother and her sister live in Paris and she sees themoften. Valeria once told me: “I’ve asked her to readfilm scripts to see what she thinks, and she’s asked me abouther albums. I can say just what I think to her.” Marisa oftensteps in to help look after Aurélien.
Carla usually writes her songs at home in the evenings and hasseveral dozen notebooks stacked on a bookshelf in her study.“But I can write anywhere. I can write very well in yoursitting room if you and your wife invite me – I don’tneed anything more than pen and paper,” she says. She jumpsup, rummages among the neat piles of books that cover the vastcoffee table, retrieves a big blue notebook of the kind Frenchschoolchildren use, and comes and sits down next to me.“Look,” she says as she rifles through the pagescovered in blue ink, “this is the notebook most of the songson the album come from. Sometimes it’s just the first fewlines. I’ve numbered them, I wrote 43 in all; most of them Ihaven’t used, but I can go back to them one day.”
She reads No 39, Ta tienne (roughly, Your Yours): “There aresome who bite/There are some who crack…” I ask aboutanother part of the same song: “I so much want/To beyours/That I draw a line…/Over my career as an Amazon/Andover my sovereign freedom.” Is that the real you, I ask. Shelaughs: “Right at the end I cry out ‘No!’, soyes, I’m completely independent. Writing about something is abit like freeing yourself of it, so this song is mischievous.Let’s say it’s about meeting someone and wanting topossess them, but that’s an illusion love creates. I’mcompletely independent, completely independent,” she repeatsfirmly. She’s up again, back to the pouf and anothercigarette.
Her sister, Valeria, once told me: “I envy the independenceCarla has in her love stories.” What made her say that?“Valeria has always been very sentimental and romantic, adeep person. I’ve been for many years obsessed by joy andhigh spirits and having fun and change. I’ve had a few greatloves in my life, not many, because you don’t get many greatloves in your life. I needed to live 40 years and to find the rightperson before maturity gave me access to a kind of love that Iwould say is more complete. That’s why I got married.”What of the words in the same song, “Watch out for yourselfbecause I’m Italian/I’m going to put the ladiesoff/I’m going to muzzle the beautiful sirens”? Surelyshe’s not the jealous type? “You’re right,I’m not that jealous or possessive, but if the man I lovebecomes crazy about another woman, of course I’ll becomejealous and possessive. I’ve never had my husbandfollowed!”
She has described her songs as “lullabies which envelop youlike a caress”, but they are even more intimate, seductive– and occasionally raunchy – than that. From Je suisune enfant (I Am a Child): “I am a child/Despite my 40years/Despite my 30 lovers.” From Ta tienne:“You’re my lord, you’re my darling, you’remy orgy.” I ask her which lyrics she has changed sincemeeting Sarkozy. “I’ve changed nothing, nothing. I justadded one song because there were 13 before and Italians think 13is tremendously bad luck. Look, I’m doing the sign of thecorna [horns],” she says, bending down to touch the parquetwith her outstretched index and little finger to ward off the evileye. “I didn’t change the lyrics, because I’mconvinced that censorship would kill even a small creation likemine.”
How did her marriage affect the album? “For me there’sno difference between this one and the first two. The big change isnot for me but for other people, for the media, because theydon’t distinguish between my position and my work. Idon’t mind that, because I understand it’s difficult tomake the distinction. I have no problem separating the two, butI’ve changed nations, language, homes a thousand times.I’ve changed my work twice.
“So dividing myself isn’t a problem. It’s aproblem for others, because as [Henri] Bergson says,” sheadds, quoting the 20th-century French philosopher, as one does inParis, “people see the label more than the individual, and asthe label isn’t precise, it confuses people.” Butsurely falling in love with a president affected the making of thealbum in some way? “My problem was that I had less time thanbefore because I got married. That’s not because my husbandis president of the republic – any woman who gets married atthe age of 40 to a lawyer or a doctor or whatever would feel thesame thing. Plus I have a son; time became shorter when he was bornbecause he has priority over me; he has priority overeverything.”
Her husband has helped her with the album “like any husbandshould. He’s been good and kind and generous”. Sheadds: “It’s not easy being with an artist, becausethere are hours of doubts. My husband, poor thing, doesn’thave an easy job – he’s got a whole country on hisshoulders and what’s more, he has to put up with me.”She doesn’t mind people laughing about Sarkozy being her fixin the song Ma came (literally, My Dope). “That’s fine,I’m happy people have something to laugh about. The truth isthat this is a song about being addicted to love. Ma came is aslang expression in France; if someone says ‘Tu es macame,’ it means ‘You’re my cup oftea.’” She says the last words in perfect English withjust a hint of an American accent.
I ask if she has ever taken drugs herself. “No, never. I lostseveral friends even when I was still at school, so I know thatdrugs are an infamy, they mean destruction and tragedy. I likewine, but alcohol is a drug, cigarettes are a drug – legaldrugs are dangerous enough already. Wine and alcohol are dangerousbecause they’re artificial ways of living. What satisfies meis reality.”
There are several references to time passing and to death in thealbum. She sings in Le temps perdu (Lost Time): “Against themarble of our tombs/Let’s take all our time everysecond.” I tell her she seems a pretty cheerful soul forsomeone who sings about death. “Being anguished about death,and knowing time goes by so fast, actually make me cheerful. Idon’t want to go into psychobabble, but I’m not sereneand I’m not wise. I never have been. I hope I will be withmaturity, but today I’m not. The truth is, life raisesquestions I haven’t found the answers to.” Such as?“Why are we here? For how long? What happened before?”Does she need to know the answers? “No, I don’t need toknow the answers, but I’m not happy-go-lucky enough.I’ve been asking myself those questions since I wassmall.”
There will be one big question for her to answer after the summerholidays, which she will spend with her husband partly at hisofficial retreat, the fortress of Brégançon on theRiviera, and her own family villa nearby: what is she going to dowith her new status? She has said she wants to dedicate herself tohumanitarian causes – the sales of her album will go to thecharity Fondation de France – so I ask if the late PrincessDiana inspires her. “Yes, I admire Diana for bringingsomething human into the monarchy, in that she couldn’t bearto lose her love. That’s rare: usually people in that kind ofposition put their role first and pretend everything’s fine.Diana inspires me as an example: she brought her simplicity and herhumanity to important issues like the effects of landmines oncivilians.” She remembers, at the age of 28, meeting Dianabriefly at a charity fashion show. “I gave her some flowers.I just remember a very young, very beautiful woman. She was alreadya legend.
“Today I’d like to help people. I have this album now,so it looks as if I talk only about myself, but before writinganother one I’d like to use the position linked to myhusband, which is so unique and privileged and which opens doors,to help people. We’re very fortunate, and my parents alwaystaught me that when you’re fortunate you have to do somethingfor others.” What specifically does she want to do? “Ireceive 40 dossiers a day, so I have to read them first. I may backsomething which already exists or create something myself. I wantto dedicate my energy, myself, my image and my position to fightingignorance, poverty and injustice. But I won’t do anythingpolitical.”
Of course, she has already done something “political”.She has won over the French, with 68% of voters approving of her inone opinion poll. Political analysts are divided over how much shehas improved Sarkozy’s image – only around 40% supporthim – but many agree on the “Carla effect”: herfiery husband has turned more serene and sensitive. Surveys showthe couple must remain discreet not to irritate voters; a brief buthigh-profile trip to the Pyramids early in the year prompted manyto complain that the president was spending too much time on hisprivate life rather than dealing with the nation’s problems.That was the only sign that the French didn’t like the impactof the relationship, and it has since been forgotten.
I ask how she feels at the centre of the “apocalypse”,as she calls life after meeting the president. “I feel like abrick in the wall, just a small brick.” She repeats thewords, this time singing the Pink Floyd refrain. She adds: “Ifeel like a woman in love with a man who brings her into a universethat she doesn’t know, but he himself is in love with a womanwho brings him into a universe he doesn’t know either. Soit’s an effort for him as well.”
I read out something that Jacques Séguéla, whobrought the couple together, has said: “Carla has brought thepresident grace, elegance, international culture; she makes histrips more presidential.” Carla smiles: “Thanks,Jacques, very kind. I hope to bring to Nicolas gentleness aboveall, a refuge.” She makes a sweeping gesture with her hand,indicating her home. “Love is always a refuge. Even if one ofthe lovers is a singer and the other is a president.”
However many changes there have been in her life, she has no doubtthat this latest one is for ever. Parisians may gossip about howlong her love for Sarkozy will last, but she has said that hermarriage is “for good”.
As I get up to leave, she leans forward closer to the tape recorderand sings just three words in a breathy imitation of MarilynMonroe: “Bye bye, baby…” Then the first lady, orsinger, or ex-supermodel, or simply Carla – there is a choiceof labels – bursts out laughing.
Carla Bruni’s new album, Comme si de rienn’était, is released tomorrow by DramaticoEntertainment.
Visit: www.carlabruni.com
A star is bared: how Carla first seduced the camera?
As she arrived in Britain to meet the Queen, a nude picture ofCarla Bruni hit the newspapers. Michel Comte, who took it, praisesthe ‘natural, polite’ model who started sitting for himat the age of 16. Kathy Brewis reports
Michel Comte is an impatient man, full of driven energy. “Ilike people who do something. Not people who sit around. I hate towaste my time. I hate to waste five minutes.”Switzerland’s most famous photographer talks like abusinessman but looks like a beatnik. He wears faded blue jeans,beads, chains and navy velvet shoes. His rugged face and lean bodyplace him anywhere between 40 and 60 (he is 54). His face isserious, bordering on grouchy; his smile comes as a pleasantsurprise.
He is notoriously difficult to pin down, rarely gives interviews.As we start talking he flicks through a huge folder of thumbnailimages of his work. This seems to be his way of dealing withdiscomfort; once he gets going he talks candidly. “Williamand Harry – they are good in their own skin, don’t youthink? The girlfriends are not so pretty.”
The calming influence is his Japanese fiancée, Ayako, whosits by him throughout. They met on Mount Fuji a year ago and aregetting married in two weeks’ time (ceremony in Zurich, partyat Angkor Wat). She listens quietly as he muses over the curiousfate of Carla Bruni, whom he has photographed since she was 16.“It’s interesting to see the power behind a powerfulman, you know? I see what Ayako brings to me: it’sincredible. And I am not a powerful man.” She places her handon his knee. “Women are much stronger than men. How far willhe go? He’s not a man with a lot of friends. That’swhat’s going to be interesting.”
Comte first photographed Bruni for Italian Vogue. “I went toher house often: I knew her mother and her father. They’re avery intellectual family. Not superficial at all. I was on contractwith Chanel and we took the Concorde together all the time. She wasjust modelling because it happened. She had success, she made moneyand she had fun. She was one of the greatest.” What made herspecial? “Everything she did was natural. There was nothingfake about Carla. And she was very polite. She opened doors forpeople, carried her own bags. She was never spoilt. She was alwaysa lady, even when she was very young.
I never thought of her as a teenager. She was a good girl. Veryuninhibited. Very honest.” He objects to her being labelled aman-eater just for having a few boyfriends. “She wasincredibly generous to them. They were long relationships –two years, three years. Always very intense. She was never one torun around from guy to guy. She was loyal to them. She dragged themaround all over the world. Every fashion show, her boyfriend wasthere backstage. Wherever she went. Except when she went out withMick [Jagger], which she kept in the closet.”
Comte met Bruni’s new husband three years ago. He’s notthe sort of “cool guy” she has gone for in the past.“Physically it doesn’t make very much sense. He’snot the most handsome creature I’ve ever seen.” Andthen he poses the question everyone is asking: “Will thesituation be permanent, or will it be another limited Carla thing?She definitely didn’t marry him because she needed something,I can tell you that: she’s got it all.”
Comte is in Zurich to shoot some commercials, but travelsconstantly.
“We are in Cambodia from September until next spring, and inTibet, and outside of Paris, and in the States at the end of nextyear, and South Africa.” Though he is known for his glossyfashion spreads and celebrity portraits – Jeremy Irons, DemiMoore, Mike Tyson, Michael Schumacher – recently he has donean equal amount of photojournalism, bringing back reportage fromBosnia, Darfur and Cambodia. He has raised money for an HIV hospicein Los Angeles. He is building a university for the Dalai Lama nearDharamsala, north India.
He is full of anecdotes about people he has known. He has travelledwith the Clintons, he has met Obama and the Bush family (“forgood or for bad”), even Osama Bin Laden (in Afghanistanbefore 9/11). He is president of the Michel Comte Water Foundation,which delivers clean water to poor communities, and which benefitedfrom his auctioned nude of Bruni, which went for £46,000 inApril. He is making two feature films at the moment: one about theKhmer Rouge trials, one on Tibet. “They are totallypolitical, controversial. They will make me an incredible amount ofenemies, but also some friends. It’s a choice youmake.”
His mother’s side of the family is Jewish and they lostrelatives in the Holocaust: no wonder he is passionate abouthumanitarian issues. He built a 400-bed hospital in Kabul in 1999after his first visit to Afghanistan. He shamelessly plunders hiscontacts, getting them to donate. He lived in the Ritz for years,maximising his connections. “It all connects. It’s anetwork of people. Gianni Versace was incredibly generous when hewas alive. Roberto Cavalli wrote me a cheque for a milliondollars.”
Comte picked up his first camera when he was five or six, and wouldhave been David Bailey’s assistant in London but his fatherrecalled him to Switzerland to do something sensible. He began totrain as a doctor but switched to art history and architecture,then worked as a picture restorer. His big break was in 1979 whenKarl Lagerfeld commissioned him to do an advertising shoot forChloé.
He has two sons from his first marriage, who are 21 and almost 15.“Practically grown-up. Very artistic. They’re both badboys. Good bad boys.” As was he: at school, he once removedthe windows as revenge on a teacher who had treated a fellow pupilbadly. “They had to teach in the cold.
I did the craziest things, but there was always a reason.” Hedescribes himself as dysfunctional. “I cannot use a digitalcamera, I cannot use a computer, I can barely pull a light switch.
“I always feel like I haven’t done anything,” hesays. “That’s why I keep doing things.” What ishis approach? “I’m very direct and I’m quick. Idon’t let people think about what picture will result. I shoteight short films yesterday with 40 people, and they don’teven notice what’s happening. I’m quiet and Idon’t hesitate. I don’t give people warning.” Yethe is camera-shy himself, having only taken one self-portrait.“I don’t know where it is. There are very few picturesof me around and I hate most of them. I’m reclusive.”
He last photographed Bruni 18 months ago. “She came to thestudio with her guitar, like a little gypsy girl.” He findsher new image “a little radical. I’d have loved to seeher a little more casual. She could get away with it. Shedoesn’t need to be married to the president. She can do itfor as long as she wants. For me the interest is what this womancan make out of that man. Their story could be amazing, or it couldturn into something mediocre. Which would be a pity. Becauseshe’s not mediocre at all”.