How Sarkozy Wooed Bruni Immediately

Feb. 12, 2009— -- The whirlwind romance between French President Nicolas Sarkozy and supermodel Carla Bruni is again hitting the headlines.

A new book published this week in France claims that Sarkozy suggested marriage to Bruni within moments of meeting her.

Jacques Seguela, a close friend of the supermodel and the president, described the evening when the two first met as an "unexpected game of seduction between two wild beasts" in his book "Autobiographie Non Autorisée (Unauthorized Autobiography)."

According to excerpts of Seguela's book published in The Times, the two were attracted to each other like "magnets" at a dinner party the author hosted in November 2007.

Sparks flew as they exchanged flirtatious barbs.

Shortly after they were introduced Bruni addressed the president with the informal "tu" and warned him she was aware of his womanizing reputation. Sarkozy responded by teasing Bruni over her man-eating ways.

"My reputation is no worse than yours," he told her. "I know you well without ever meeting you. I understand everything about you. ... You make love because no one makes love to you. I know everything about you because I am so much you."

But Bruni -- who last year famously told Le Figaro Madame magazine: "I am a tamer [of men], a cat, an Italian. … Monogamy bores me terribly" -- seemed to toy with Sarkozy and teased him over his inability to handle media attention.

"When it comes to the celebrity press, you are an amateur. My encounter with Mick [Jagger] stayed secret for eight years. We passed through all the capitals of the world and no photographer ever caught us."

Sarkozy flung back a jibe about Jagger "How could you have stayed eight years with a man who has such ridiculous calves?"

The book says the other dinner guests were shocked and fell silent when the French president promised that he would attend a Bruni concert. "We will announce our engagement. You will see, we will do better than Marilyn and Kennedy," he said.

Bruni replied: "Engagement, never! From now on I will only live with a man who gives me a child." Sarkozy retorted: "I have already brought up five. Why not six?"