French President Francois Hollande Admits Going Through 'Painful' Private Life Problems

After a magazine report came out earlier this week that French President Francois Hollande was having a secret affair with an actress, he admitted that he was going through "painful moments" in his personal life on Tuesday, the Associated Press reported.

Closer published photos which claimed to prove Hollande's liaison with actress Julie Gayet. Since Friday, Hollande's partner Valerie Trierweiler has been hospitalized.

Upon being questioned whether Trierweiler remains the first lady at a major public appearance on Tuesday, Hollande said, "Everyone in his or her personal life can go through ordeals, that's the case with us."

According to the AP, "the latest revelations call into question whether a complex personal life can be private for someone with round-the-clock bodyguards, and about the role of the "first lady" in France."

Before he takes off for a presidential trip to the United States on February 11, Hollande said that he will clarify who the first lady is. The pictures published in Closer included one where a man was seen being ferried by a motorcycle to an apartment where Gayet waited, the AP reported.

France's political establishment was rocked in a similar manner twenty years ago when the same photographer, Sebastien Valiela, had clicked photos disclosing the secret family of then-President Francois Mitterrand, showing the Socialist leader emerging from a restaurant with the daughter he had never acknowledged, according to the AP.

The lack of security for Hollande, whose government has been repeatedly threatened by Al Qaeda, was surprising, Valiela said. The President has been accused of taking unreasonable risks with his security by a leading legislator from the opposition conservative UMP party, the AP reported.

"The President is not a normal citizen during his term. He is the chief of our armies. He is the keystone of our institutions. His protection should not suffer from any amateurism," Jacob said in the National Assembly. "The President should be aware of the level of responsibility that he exercises, be aware that his role is greater than his person, and be aware that he incarnates the image of France in the eyes of the world."

Prime Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault tried to defend his boss, insisting that Hollande "has only one concern... the future of France, the return to growth, the fight for jobs" and that the debate about his private life "isn't worthy of a great democracy".