French hail Carla Bruni as their own Princess Diana after she kisses children with AIDS on Africa trip
The French have hailed their First Lady Carla Bruni as 'the new Princess Diana' after she kissed infected children on her first trip to Africa as an AIDS ambassador.Images of the former supermodel hugging AIDS victims in the poverty-stricken state of Burkina Faso have been splashed across the media in France.
And glossy magazine VSD said yesterday: 'She is Diana's natural heiress.
'She must surely be thinking she is following in the footsteps of the Princess as she visits a continent which is still devastated by AIDS.'
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Superglam Carla Bruni-Sarkozy shows Hollywood stars how it's done at Paris Fashion Week gala
France's First Lady Carla Bruni-Sarkozy stole the show at a Paris Fashion Week gala in a traffic-stopping purple dress.
Showing her move into politics haven't dimmed her fashion roots, the 41-year-old singer was the epitome of Gallic chic as she arrived at the annual Gala Sidaction-Diner de la Mode in the French capital last night.
On a day when one million French workers took to the streets in protest at her husband Nicolas's handling of the economic crisis, Bruni-Sarkozy was partying in a Yves Saint Laurent column dress.
NEWS - FRANCE
ResponderEliminarFrench hail Carla Bruni as their own Princess Diana after she kisses children with AIDS on Africa trip
The French have hailed their First Lady Carla Bruni as 'the new Princess Diana' after she kissed infected children on her first trip to Africa as an AIDS ambassador.
Images of the former supermodel hugging AIDS victims in the poverty-stricken state of Burkina Faso have been splashed across the media in France.
And glossy magazine VSD said yesterday: 'She is Diana's natural heiress.
'She must surely be thinking she is following in the footsteps of the Princess as she visits a continent which is still devastated by AIDS.'
France's first lady Carla Bruni-Sarkozy poses among women with children at a medical centre in Ouagadougou, Burkina-Fasso last week
And now 40-year-old Bruni - whose own brother Virginio died of AIDS in 2006 - has openly expressed her admiration for Diana's highly-publicised fight against the disease in the 1990s.
She said: 'Diana was incredible. She touched and kissed infected people.
'She did extraordinary work which prompted the world's to made great strides in the battle against this epidemic.
'Diana did so much, and not just for the United Kingdom. She kissed those infected with aids and showed we need not fear the infection. She was remarkable.'
On last week's trip to Burkina Faso - the world's third poorest country - she also met health officials and charity workers and visited a centre that provides HIV-testing in the West African state.
Bruni signed on with the Geneva-based Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria last December as its first formal celebrity envoy because she said she 'wanted to do something useful'.
Carla Bruni-Sarkozy speaks to women at the medical centre alongside a representative from an AIDS charity
She is now planning to confront those attending a G8 summit this summer over a lack of funds to fight the disease.
But she said she was not planning a political career of her own.
Bruni - who married president Nicolas Sarkozy a year ago after a whirlwind romance - added: 'I want to campaign for causes I believe in, but that does not make me a politician.
'Just because you have married a violinist it doesn't mean you can play in the orchestra.
'I am not politically driven enough. I never sign petitions and I don't shout from the rooftops about who I am voting for."
In a separate interview with American Vogue magazine, Bruni also said that since taking up her new role as French First Lady, she no longer gets any pleasure make-up, clothes and jewellery.
She said: 'I have an austere temperament. There are things that give me no pleasure, like objects, clothes, jewellery. I've worn them all, but all that stuff now interferes with my daily life.
'Besides, make-up takes forever and doesn't make you look better after 30.'
Bruni-Sarkozy also revealed that she sees a therapist twice a week.
She said: 'If you are lucky enough to have a privileged life, it's sad to remain infantile and spoiled. So you have to get rid of your neuroses and take responsibility for your own life.'
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Superglam Carla Bruni-Sarkozy shows Hollywood stars how it's done at Paris Fashion Week gala
France's First Lady Carla Bruni-Sarkozy stole the show at a Paris Fashion Week gala in a traffic-stopping purple dress.
Showing her move into politics haven't dimmed her fashion roots, the 41-year-old singer was the epitome of Gallic chic as she arrived at the annual Gala Sidaction-Diner de la Mode in the French capital last night.
On a day when one million French workers took to the streets in protest at her husband Nicolas's handling of the economic crisis, Bruni-Sarkozy was partying in a Yves Saint Laurent column dress.