Over the past 20 years,
our next guest went from the cover of "VOGUE" as an international supermodel
to the presidential palace in France as the first lady
Take a look.
-For over 20 years, CARLA BRUNI,
the former first lady of France,
has been known as one of the most beutiful women in the world.
-She begin her career as one of the top supermodels in fashion
and soon became headline news with high-profile relationships with Mick Jagger and Eric
At the age of 30, she transitioned to music
and became a critically- acclaimed singer/songwriter.
[singing] -try for a little french song
-In 2008, she married the president of France, Nicolas Sarkozy,
and instantly became one of the most stylish first ladies in history.
-After saying good-bye to the palace two years ago,
she's returned to her music,
and is now touring United States for the first time
in support of her latest CD, "Little French Songs."
Please welcome Carla Bruni.
Bonjour. -Bonjour, Ellen
That's all I know.
-But you know well. Bonjour. Bonjour.
-Bonjour. And that's all I'll say.
'cause I-- I'm so bad at accents,
I couldn't even try it if you taught me a sentence
I couldn't speak French
Do you speak only French and English,
or do you speak other languages?
-I was born in Italian. Oh.
-I became French only when I got married at 40 years old.
-So I speak Italian, yeah.
You became French when you got married?
-Yes. That's how it works?
-Oh. [laughter]
-See, no, the thing is that probably if you had another job,
you know, my man, maybe I would have remain Italian.
-But since he was the president of France,
-then I thought it was polite, you know? To become French?
-Yeah. [laughter]
That was polite of you. -Half French, half Italian,
-because I kept my both passport. But you sound more French.
Did you have a thick Italian accent before?
-No, but you think I have a French voice?
Yes, I do. -Oh, because I have Italian voice.
Really? -Yeah.
That shows how much I know. [laughter]
I never get out of this place. It's like a casino for me.
I don't know what time it is, I don't know what day it is.
So what a life you've had.
So you were a model, a supermodel, and then you became a musician, and started--
And then you meet the president of France, Nicolas Sarkozy, and--
how do you meet the president? Were you just at a party?
-Blind date. No. Well, it can't be blind.
You know who he was, right? -Yeah.
-I knew who he was. He just got divorced,
which is very strange for a president, you know,
so the whole country was like [gasps] HUH? Yeah.
-And then-- and then we have a common friend,
And I was single for like a year with my little boy.
And so they said, "Would you like to come for dinner
and we invited Nicolas Sarkozy?" -And I said, "Yeah."
-I mean.. Both: why not?
-And then we met at the dinner and we left together,
-And it was like, you know? Was it love at first sight?
-Yeah. Yeah. For both of you?
-It exist-- yeah, it exists.
So--Yes, I believe it. I'm-- happened for me.
So-- So and then how long after
How long did you date before you got married?
-We didn't date for long. Uh... Two months?
That's not long. -Yeah, that's not long.
Yeah. -Yeah, we met on the 13 of november,
-And we got married at the 2nd of February
Wow. And you've been together how long now?
-7 1/2 years. 7 1/2 years. That's fantastic.
So what's it like to all the sudden be the first lady?
like, that's-- there's responsibilities.
-Scary, yeah. yeah.
-I got really scared, and I tried to concentrate
-So I don't make mistakes, you know?
Like, did you have to learn certain etiquette that you didn't know?
-They show you the way very much.
-You know, there's like protocol people that tells you "Go there, and then go here and"--
-I did it wrong at the beginning.
-You know, I was always at the wrong side.
Oh, because you have to-- What do you mean?
-You have to be by the flag, basically, you know,
and say hello to people, so thay's very easy to be kind, you know?
-But sometimes I would go the wrong direction, you know?
-And I didn't know-- You always have to stand by your man.
while he's giving speeches,
-And that's so weird.
-As if he was standing next to me while I'm singing, right?
-Or if your girl was standing there while you're--you know?
So you have to stand--because it's a position where you have yo be next to him.
Yes. -In a very representive way.
-You don't have much to do. Yeah.