Barbara Walters chats with the first lady of France, Carla Bruni-Sarkozy.
(Donna Svennevik/ABC)
Carla Bruni-Sarkozy, the first lady of France, sat down for an intimate conversation with Barbara Walters, during which they discussed everything from adultery to the first lady's career in the music industry.
The following is a transcript of their "20/20" interview. It has been slightly edited for narrative flow.
BARBARA WALTERS: I understand that when you were 7 years old you took guitar lessons and your teacher taught you "Oh, Susannah."
CARLA BRUNI-SARKOZY: Oh, yes.
WALTERS: And so, you know it very well, in Italian, yeah?
BRUNI-SARKOZY: Yes, that's the first song I ever l — [PAUSE] but I, but I only know it in Italian.
WALTERS: OK. All right.
BRUNI-SARKOZY: Are you sure?
WALTERS: Yep.
BRUNI-SARKOZY: Okay. [PAUSE] I hope American people won't mind me singing "Oh Susannah" in Italian. [BRUNI-SARKOZY PLAYING GUITAR/SINGING "OH SUSANNAH"]
WALTERS: You have just won over the entire South.
WALTERS: This is your third album. How do you expect people to be able to listen to your music and separate the artist from the wife of the President?
BRUNI-SARKOZY: It's very hard to separate both parts. And I don't expect people to separate them because I believe that it's impossible. What I hope is that if people like it, they like it; and if they don't like it, it doesn't have much to do with my husband, but much more to do with my music.
WALTERS: Do you want this album to preserve your own identity?
BRUNI-SARKOZY: Yes, I think it's, it's, the album was, symbolic for me of my identity. I hoped that, you know, France wouldn't mind about, you know, the wife of their President to having a job.
WALTERS: But you write about orgies and lovers…
BRUNI-SARKOZY: I write about passion.
WALTERS: OK.
WALTERS: Now, much of your album was written before you met your husband, but…
BRUNI-SARKOZY: [LAUGHS]
WALTERS: … this has been very controversial, one of your songs. OK, "You are my junk. More deadly than Afghan heroin. More dangerous than Colombian white powder." OK now, who are you writing about?
BRUNI-SARKOZY: I'm writing about, it's not exactly me, and it's not about -- exactly someone. I'm writing about …when love is so passionate that it can be destructive, just like drugs.
WALTERS: Yeah? Another lyric: "I am a child, despite my 30 lovers." Is that autobiographical, 30 lovers?
[OVERTALK] BRUNI-SARKOZY: No, of course, not. But "20 lovers" didn't sound good. "Ten lovers" doesn't sound, I mean, I'm talking about phonetics for this song.
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