Carla Bruni snubbed at French music awards

Given the attention that was lavished on her third studio album Comme si de rien n'etait  (As If Nothing Happened) when it was released last year, it was widely thought that Carla Bruni (pictured) would garner some critical recognition. Sadly, the opposite has happened: at the weekend she failed to win a single nomination in France’s equivalent of the Brits, the prestigious ‘Victoires de la Musique’ awards.

Other French female singers were honoured, including Johnny Depp’s girlfriend, Vanessa Paradis, whose last hit song was Joe Le Taxi back was in 1987. The London Evening Standard quoted a source in Paris saying: “Buying a Carla CD became very uncool after she married Mr Sarkozy, especially when she started dedicating her love songs to him.”

The album, which despite acres of free publicity only sold 85,000 copies, featured a song called You Are My Drug, on which the former model sang about someone, probably President Sarkozy, who was "more lethal than heroin from Afghanistan, more dangerous than white Colombian [cocaine]. My guy, I roll him up and smoke him". However, it was the lyric "I am a child despite my 40 years and 30 lovers" that attracted the most attention in the French media.

Will the failure to get a Victoires nomination cause 41-year-old Bruni to consider her options? Some in Paris believe the snubs and humiliations may have convinced the First Lady that the end of her music career is in sight, and that she should be looking for another hobby.

While Sarkozy may be to blame for the downturn in his wife’s singing fortunes, the President is being accused today of helping one of his favourite chefs, Eric Frechon, win three Michelin stars. Francois Simon, whose reviews in Le Figaro can - and frequently do - make or break culinary reputations, alleges that Frechon, the chef of the Hotel Bristol, just 200 metres from the Elysee Palace, received the honour in large part because of the patronage of the president, who likes to entertain celebrity friends there.

“No one will ask whether this promotion is deserved or not," Simon told the Independent. "It is all part of Michelin's clever marketing, because this is the President's favourite place to eat."

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