Ex-French president Nicolas Sarkozy towers over wife Carla Bruni in Paris Match photoshoot – even though the 5ft 9in former model looks down on the 5ft 5in politician in real life
- The 64-year-old ex-President appeared taller than his wife on the Match cover
- However in real life the former model Carla Bruni is about 4 inches (10cm) taller
- The image sparked a series of photoshopped memes involving step-ladders
- But Match clarified that Sarkozy was stood on a higher step outside their home
There was only one question on everyone’s lips over this week’s Paris Match magazine featuring Nicolas Sarkozy and Carla Bruni – how was the diminutive former French president seemingly taller than his towering wife?
The front-page photoshoot was perhaps intended to ease the 64-year-old right-winger back into a political comeback, coming on the heels of his new book called ‘Passions’ which has become a summer best-seller.
But social media users mostly wanted to know how Bruni, a former singer and model who measures 5ft 9in (1.75 metres) appeared to be standing up while nuzzling the neck of her husband, who is some 10cm shorter.
Nicolas Sarkozy, the 64-year-old ex-President of France, appeared to tower over his wife Carla Bruni on this week’s Paris Match cover (pictured)
The image sparked a series of cruel photoshopped pictures involving step-ladders and platform shoes before Paris Match put out a statement to deny suggestions it had doctored the image.
‘Some people were surprised to see Nicolas Sarkozy taller than his wife Carla Bruni,’ the magazine admitted, adding that the photo in question had been taken in June on some steps outside the couple’s home.
‘In the image chosen for the cover, Nicolas Sarkozy was on the higher step than his wife,’ it added.
In real life the former model Carla Bruni is about 4 inches (10cm) taller than her husband and often wears flat shoes (Pictured left: the couple at the FashioN Trust Arabia Prize awards in Qatar in March 2019; and right at the national tribute to Charles Aznavour in October 2018 in Paris)
Paris Match brought unwelcome attention to Sarkozy’s frame in 2015 with another front-page shot which appeared to show him taller than his wife as he led her across the sand on a beach in Corsica.
The glossy celebrity and news magazine is often used by French politicians for publicity, knowing a flattering photoshoot and intimate interview can put them back in the public eye and spark interest.
Sarkozy has quit politics on two occasions in the past after election defeats, most recently in 2016 when his bid to become the presidential candidate for his right-wing Republicans party failed.
He is still embroiled in multiple corruption investigations dating to his five years in office from 2007-2012.
Match magazine said that Sarkozy was stood on a higher step during the photoshoot that took place outside the couple’s home
He denies all of the charges, which focus on campaign financing and allegations he accepted money from the regime of late Libyan dictator Moamer Kadhafi.
In his new book, Sarkozy recalls his early years in politics and also touches on his private life, relating how his first wife Cecilia announced her desire for a divorce on the eve of a crucial television debate ahead of his election as president in 2007.
The book has shot to the top of the best-seller lists and is the latest in a long line of his publishing successes which include ‘Together’, ‘France for Life’ and ‘Everything for France’.