Sarkozys tipped for marriage split

PARIS, France (CNN) -- Speculation surrounds the state of French President Nicolas Sarkozy's marriage following word that the first lady, Cecilia Sarkozy, will not be accompanying her husband on a state visit to Morocco next week.

A spokesman for Sarkozy this week played down the announcement -- and refused to comment on rumors that the couple could be close to announcing their divorce.

But the barrage of questions -- and headlines -- indicates that the private lives of French presidents are no longer off-limits to the press.

The Sarkozys have been the subject of gossip for years. It has been widely reported that Cecilia Sarkozy had a relationship with an advertising executive, while there has been frequent speculation about the president's own alleged relationship with a French reporter.

Cecilia Sarkozy was a memorable figure at her husband's inauguration in May, smiling and greeting supporters with kisses on the cheek.

Since then, however, she's been notably absent from her husband's side. She didn't attend a luncheon with her husband at U.S. President George W. Bush's Maine vacation home over the summer, citing illness. The Sarkozy family was vacationing in New Hampshire at the time.

French presidents and their spouses have a long tradition of leading separate lives, even while carrying on the functions of state.

Former president Francois Mitterand not only lived apart from his wife, Danielle, but he maintained a secret second family that turned up in public only at his funeral.

Jacques Chirac, who stepped down when Sarkozy was elected this year, hinted at a number of affairs. Last year's French film "Dans la Peau de Jacques Chirac" ("In the Skin of Jacques Chirac") portrayed Chirac and his wife as so distant that they addressed each other with the formal "vous."

Cecilia Sarkozy took a leading role early in her husband's presidency, helping to negotiate the release of Bulgarian medical workers from Libya in July. But after criticism from her husband's opponents, she has since appeared little in public.

One presidential aide suggests her role may be evolving rather then ending.

Still, observers say what would shock the French is not a divorce, but the image of a president lacking control of his personal life.

"The president can do what he wants in his private life, but he has to be the boss," said Christophe Barbier, editor of L'Express magazine. "He has to do his job clearly -- with or without his wife." E-mail to a friend