First lady of France Valérie Trierweiler wins court case over 'ordinary' bikini photos in magazine

 
Peter Allen5 September 2012

French first lady and journalist Valérie Trierweiler today won damages from a magazine that featured pictures of her in a bikini — even though the publication she works for also used them.

The farcical situation saw a judge order celebrity glossy VSD to pay the partner of President François Hollande the equivalent of £1,500.

Ms Trierweiler, a columnist on VSD’s rival Paris Match, wanted £24,000. The images had shown the couple splashing around on a beach close to Fort de Brégançon on the French Riviera last month.

“She didn’t like the pictures so wanted them banned,” said a Paris legal source. “Faxes were sent to editors, with lawyers threatening all kinds of measures.”

Despite this, she only issued proceedings against VSD — suggesting she was happy for Paris Match to publish the pictures on its inside pages.

Some people have questioned whether Mr Hollande, 58, allowed the “shorts-and-bikini” photos to be taken to prove the couple were still in love.

It followed speculation he threatened to leave Ms Trierweiler, 47, after she backed a candidate standing against Ségolène Royal, the mother of his four children, in parliamentary polls.

Ms Royal lost the election.

The judge made his ruling at the Tribunal de Grande Instance in Paris.

Today Frédérique Giffard, Ms Trierweiler’s lawyer, insisted the court’s award was designed to “preserve the privacy” of his client.

He said Ms Trierweiler would give her award to campaign group Reporters Without Borders.

VSD editor Philippe Labi said: “It is a little surprising to be attacked for such ordinary pictures.”

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in