France's Bruni confirms pregnant, won't reveal gender (Reuters)

PARIS (Reuters) – France's first lady Carla Bruni spoke openly about her pregnancy for the first time in a newspaper interview published on Friday -- but kept the baby's gender a secret.

Rumors have swirled for months, starting with a story in gossip magazine Closer in April and followed by near-obsessive coverage of Bruni's baby bump, but Friday's interview with regional daily Nice Matin was the first official confirmation the presidential couple are expecting their first child.

Bruni is said to be due to give birth in the autumn, around the time President Nicolas Sarkozy is expected to announce he will run for a second term in next year's election.

Bruni, a singer-songwriter and former model, declined to say whether her baby was a boy or a girl.

"There are some things that one has to keep secret," she said.

Asked why she had been so discreet, Bruni, 43, said: "First in order to protect myself, to avoid having to expose my personal life. It's a great joy for me, but one that is fairly banal after all."

"People have other problems and it would be out of place to talk about it too much," she added.

Photographed by Nice Matin, Bruni appears relaxed and maternal in a flowing pink gown, lounging on a floral-patterned sofa and strolling through the gardens of Fort de Bregancon, the president's retreat in the south of France.

Shots of Bruni taken in May at the G8 summit in Deauville, showing her wearing a black dress with a prominent bump, garnered intense coverage and nearly overshadowed an otherwise protocol-heavy gathering of world leaders.

Friday's interview, the day after the Bastille Day national holiday when many French people are relaxing at vacation homes, had the feel of a well-staged press event, coming on the heels of a photo spread in Paris Match magazine featuring the presidential couple lazing in swimwear at the beach.

With Sarkozy laboring under weak poll ratings nine months from the election, Bruni's pregnancy appears to be a stroke of good fortune that could win sympathy points with some voters.

Sarkozy and his former wife, Cecilia, divorced shortly after he was elected in 2007. He has since accustomed the French public to following episodes of his private life as they are played out in gossip magazines.

While many people say they would prefer a more low-key president, plenty are still interested in Sarkozy and his private affairs. He was recently the subject of a film called "La Conquete" which has drawn nearly 700,000 viewers since it came out in May.

(Editing by Paul Casciato)

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Frances McDormand wins Tony as best play actress (AP)

NEW YORK – Frances McDormand has won the Tony Award for best leading actress in a play.

The Academy Award-winner took home her first Tony for playing a South Boston blue-collar woman who reconnects with a high school boyfriend in David Lindsay-Abaire play "Good People."

It is McDormand's first Tony win. She had been nominated in 1988 for playing Stella Kowalski in a production of Tennessee Williams' "A Streetcar Named Desire." She has an Oscar for "Fargo."

McDormand beat out Nina Arianda in "Born Yesterday," Lily Rabe in "The Merchant of Venice," Vanessa Redgrave in "Driving Miss Daisy" and Hannah Yelland from "Brief Encounter."

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Baby-bump Carla ends France's state secret (AFP)

DEAUVILLE, France (AFP) – Her hands cradling her swelling midriff, a visibly pregnant Carla Bruni-Sarkozy posed for pictures as she welcomed G8 leaders' wives Thursday, ending weeks of speculation about France's soon-to-be First Baby.

Wearing an above-the-knee, unbelted white dress and black tailored jacket, the supermodel chanteuse turned wife of President Nicolas Sarkozy smiled as she greeted the wives of the world's most powerful leaders for a separate programme devoted to her pet causes of illiteracy and AIDS.

Bruni, 43, and Sarkozy's Elysee Palace have declined to comment on rumours of her pregnancy throughout weeks of frenzied speculation in France, but with no attempt to hide the bump in Deauville, the ending of a state secret eclipsed the absence even of Michelle Obama and Samantha Cameron.

Photographers who knew even before the summit that they would be craning for a view of "le bump" appeared to get a tacit acknowledgement from Bruni as her elegant hands slid maternally around her swelling middle.

At one stage as she posed with four of the wives, Bruni looked down and gestured to her bump with a maternal flourish.

Svetlana Medvedev, wife of the Russian president, presented the expectant mum with a bouquet of flowers.

Asked by a French journalist how his wife was doing, Sarkozy responded with his now customary mild exasperation, during his official press conference: "Listen, I've just had her on the phone. She seemed in good form. I'll tell her you were asking about her. It won't be a surprise."

For weeks an open secret in Paris, Sarkozy's father last week told the German daily Bild that he was expecting a new grandchild.

Michelle Obama's absence, a surprise to the huge international press corps here, had earlier threatened to overshadow the G8 wives' events.

The crowd-pulling US First Lady bade a very public farewell to President Barack Obama, kissing her husband on the tarmac of Stanstead airport near London as they ended a three-day state visit before the start of the Deaville summit. She was driven away in an SUV, while Obama boarded his plane alone.

The White House offered no details of Michelle Obama's programme, but she sometimes drops off portions of her husband's overseas tours to return home to be with her daughters Malia and Sasha.

Downing Street confirmed the absence from the summit of Prime Minister David Cameron's wife.

"Samantha wasn't planning to come. The baby is still too little for her to travel," a spokesman said, referring to Florence, their third child, born to the Camerons last summer.

There was no such let-up in sight for France's first lady, however, as she embarked on a packed agenda for the wives.

After lunch on the first day of the summit on Thursday, Bruni was taking her guests to visit food producers from the Normandy region before hosting a working session dubbed "together against illiteracy."

In the evening, Bruni and Sarkozy will play host to the other leaders and their spouses for a dinner on the seafront terrace of Le Ciro's restaurant in the elegant Channel seaside resort.

On Friday she will welcome the wives of the African leaders invited to join the heads of the G8 powerhouses at the summit, before hosting a working lunch for another of her causes, protecting mothers and children from AIDS.

Sarkozy is due to run for re-election in April next year, and some political commentators have predicted that a new baby could help boost his disastrous polling numbers as he tries to win back lost support.

Bruni already has a 10-year-old son, Aurelien, from an earlier relationship with the philosopher Raphael Enthoven, and 56-year-old Sarkozy has three sons aged 14, 25 and 26 from two previous marriages.

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France's Carla Bruni shows off bump at G8 summit (Reuters)

DEAUVILLE, France (Reuters) – French first lady Carla Bruni showed off a rounded belly on Thursday that left little room for doubt that reports she is pregnant are true.

Posing for photographs with the wives of other leaders on the sidelines of a Group of Eight summit in the French resort of Deauville, she wore a loose-fitting white smock dress which at times stretched over an obvious bump around the midriff.

The former model has not confirmed rumors she is expecting, but she has made no great effort to dispel them; she has fended off direct questions with coy giggles and has taken to concealing a noticeably heavy midriff under baggy clothing.

On Wednesday, members of a British charity delivered a maternity basket to the 43-year-old Bruni containing a childbirth kit and hygiene supplies, as a way of publicizing the issue of child mortality in the developing world.

Her husband, President Nicolas Sarkozy, has refused to comment on the reports the first couple are expecting their first child together, but last week a German newspaper quoted his father as saying the rumors were true.

A presidential baby could be a public relations boon for Sarkozy, who is grappling with some of the lowest popularity ratings of any French leader in decades and faces a tough battle for reelection next April.

Italian-born Bruni, who has a career as a pop singer, has a son from a former relationship and has often said she would like to have a child with Sarkozy. It would be Sarkozy's fourth child after the three sons he has from two former marriages.

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Packed G8 agenda for France's pregnant Carla (AFP)

DEAUVILLE, France (AFP) – France's First Lady will host a packed agenda for the wives of the developed world's most powerful leaders Thursday, in her first G8 summit since her pregnancy was revealed.

As ever, photographers will flock to cover the glamorous former supermodel's events, but at the Deauville summit they will be craning for a view of her baby bump as much as for her stylish sense of fashion.

She will appear along with other first ladies, including the US president's wife Michelle Obama and Britain's Samantha Cameron, using the summit to promote her latest cause: the battle against adult illiteracy.

After lunch on the first day of the summit on Thursday, 43-year-old Bruni will take her guests to visit food producers from the Normandy region before hosting a working session dubbed "together against illiteracy."

In the evening, Bruni and her husband President Nicolas Sarkozy will play host to the other leaders and their spouses for a dinner on the seafront terrace of Le Ciro's restaurant in the elegant Channel seaside resort.

On Friday she will welcome the wives of the African leaders invited to join the heads of the G8 powerhouses at the summit, before hosting a working lunch for another of her causes, protecting mothers and children from AIDS.

Neither Bruni nor her husband have commented publicly on her pregnancy, but it has long been an open secret in Paris and last week Sarkozy's father told the German daily Bild that he was expecting a new grandchild.

Sarkozy is due to run for re-election in April next year, and some political commentators have predicted that a new baby could help boost his disastrous polling numbers as he tries to win back lost support.

Bruni already has a 10-year-old son, Aurelien, from an earlier relationship with the philosopher Raphael Enthoven, and 56-year-old Sarkozy has three sons aged 14, 25 and 26 from two previous marriages.

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Jean Dujardin: one of France's most bankable stars (AFP)

CANNES, France (AFP) – Jean Dujardin is one of the most bankable stars in French cinema, having made his name in comedy before spreading out into more serious roles.

Dujardin, who turns 39 on June 11, collected best-actor honours at Cannes on Sunday for his sparking performance as a vain fallen Hollywood star, George Valentin, in Michel Hazanavicius's silent movie "The Artist".

Fans of French film know him for his expressive face and killer smile, with some comparing him to screen legend Jean-Paul Belmondo.

The pairing of actor and director was no accident: the two previously teamed up for the "OSS 177" series of spoof spy capers that have scored big at the French box office.

Born in the Paris suburb of Rueil-Malmaison, Dujardin sharpened his acting chops with stage and television roles, before moving on to the big screen in 2003 with the comedy "Welcome to the Roses".

Two years later he starred in the French Riviera surfer comedy "Brice de Nice", before breaking out as the unflappable special agent Hubert Bonisseur de la Bath in "OSS 117: Cairo, Nest of Spies".

His comic performance earned him a best actor nomination at the Cesar awards, the French counterpart of the Oscars.

"OSS 117" was inspired by French spy novels by Jean Bruce that predated Ian Fleming's 007 novels by several years, and black-and-white scenes foretold the style that would re-emerge with "The Artist".

Dujardin reprised his winning role in "OSS 117: Lost in Rio", in 2009 before embarking on "The Artist", for which he and Hazanavicius studied countless old movies to decipher the secrets of silent film-making.

According to the French newspaper Le Figaro, Dujardin is the best-paid male actor in France, earning 2.3 million euros (3.3 million dollars) -- second only in earnings to Oscar-winning actress Marion Cotillard.

Yet it was only when "The Artist" was placed at the last minute in competition for the Palme d'Or that Dujardin had a chance to walk the red carpet in Cannes for the first time.

"This is a real loss of virginity," he quipped.

Stretching his acting talents, Dujardin has taken on more serious roles in the Nicolas Boukhrief thriller "Le Convoyeur".

In the Bertrand Blier drama "The Clink of Ice", he played an alcoholic writer in dialogue with a personification of the cancer that is taking his life.

And in Franck Mancuso's "Counter Investigation" Dujardin plays a police officer searching for the real killer of his daughter.

Dujardin is married to actress Alexandra Lamy.

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