Sarkozy's ex-wife reveals how 'several of her friends' dumped their husbands in desperate rush to become France's next First Lady after her divorce... but Carla got there first

Nicolas Sarkozy married Cecilia Attias in 1997 and they split up 11 years later

In new book she reveals her friends wanted to achieve 'wealth and power'

Ms Attias is now married to an event organiser she had an affair with



Sarkozy married Carla Bruni following an 80 day whirlwind courtship



Speaking out: Cecilia Attias has detailed the breakdown of her marriage of Nicolas Sarkozy

A former wife of ex-French president Nicolas Sarkozy has claimed that when the pair split her friends immediately moved to divorce their husbands in the hope of ensnaring the former French president.

But their hopes were dashed when Mr Sarkozy married Carla Bruni following a whirlwind romance of just 80 days.

Cecilia Attias, 55, who left him for another man just as he became head of state in 2007, will publish her long-awaited autobiography next month.

In the book, extracts of which were published in Le Point and Elle magazine, the former first lady rev e als that she felt compelled to leave the 11-year marriage because she felt after his 2007 election victory that he had 's ort of forgotten me'.

The autobiography 'Une envie de verité (A desire for the truth) sees Ms Attias de scribe how Mr Sarkozy was transformed from 'dynamic' politician to an 'agitated' president, prone to 'terrible rages,' reported The Independent.



'It is strange,' she writes 'that this man who was totally placid in his private life, a man who never raised his voice at home… managed to project such an impulsive public image.'

It has often been suggested that Ms Attias, who has a 16-year-old son with Mr Sakozy, was the driving force behind her husband.



She acted as an unpaid adviser when Mr Sarkozy was finance minister in 2004 and headed his private office at the ruling Union for a Popular Movement (UMP) party.



'Contrary to what has been written, I never sought to influence my former husband,' she writes.

'I never advised him to take one direction rather than another.'

Moving on: Nicolas Sarkozy and Carla married only 80 days after meeting - they met at a party a month after her split with his second wife

Happier times: Cecilia Attias married Sarkozy in 1997, but they divorced 11 years later

The potentially highly explosive memoire will be of great concern to Mr Sarkozy, who is fighting corruption allegations.



Ms Attias, is expected to discuss meetings with former Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi, whom Sarkozy is accused of illegally accepting the equivalent millions of pounds in cash from.

She helped secure the release of five Bulgarian nurses and a Palestinian doctor being held captive, with many suspecting underhand dealings.



The mother-of-three also addresses Sarkozy's controversial decision to hold his election party at a luxury club on the Champs Elysée.

Following criticism Sarkozy implied that she had suggested it, but Ms Attias stresses it was a joint decision.

Elections: Nicolas Sarkozy and Cecilia after casting his ballot at the Ile-de-la-Jatte in Neuilly-sur-Seine, near Paris in 2007

Cecilia Attias said her friends rushed to try and ensnare her former husband but Carla Bruni caught his eye



She also insists that the decision to take a trip on the billionaire’s yacht after his victory, was Mr Sarkozy’s idea and designed to entertain their son.

'Wherever we would have gone that night, we would have suffered heavy fire from the critics.'



Just as controversially, there have been persistent claims about Mr Sarkozy’s behaviour towards Ms Attias.



Among the allegations in ‘Love, Rupture and Betrayal’, a 2008 book by the highly respected French author Hubert Coudurier, were claims of a vicious row between Mr Sarkozy and his then wife before the presidential elections of May 2007.

It led to a complaint to police, although no action was taken against Mr Sarkozy, said Mr Coudurier. Instead Mr Sarkozy moved out of the family home after being warned by the then interior minister, Francois Baroin, about the complaint.



His ex-wife famously refused to vote for her husband during the presidential election, and did not attend his victory celebrations.



When she finally surfaced, she looked haggard and tearful. She was so depressed at the time that she was briefly admitted to hospital and put on antidepressants.



During a split from his second wife in early 2005 and before he met current wife Carla Bruni-Sarkozy, Mr Sarkozy used to spend nights with Anne Fulda, a political journalist.



New love: Mrs Attias married French PR executive, Richard Attias in 2008. They live together in New York

Even while he was sleeping with Mrs Fulda, Mr Sarkozy would text and telephone Cecilia constantly, even though she was conducting her own affair with Moroccan-born events organiser Richard Attias, whom she subsequently married.



In early 2006 Mr Sarkozy and Cecilia were briefly reconciled, before Mrs Fulda returned to Mr Sarkozy, and Cecilia to Mr Attias, whom she eventually married.



Mr Sarkozy desperately tried to win Cecilia back when he was elected president, suggesting that she would be the 'new Jackie Kennedy' and sending her off on the controversial mission to Libya to rescue the prisoners.



‘He is extremely considerate to people when they're on his side,’ said Coudurier. ‘But he can also be brutal.’



Ms Attias has previously spoken said the 5ft 6ins former president couldn’t keep his admirers away.

Life of glamour: Carla Bruni attends the Bulgari Party at Apicius Restaurant as part of the Paris Fashion Week last month. Right, pictured with actress Scarlett Johansson



‘They’re very much attracted to power,’ she said as she discussed sex and politics on ABC in 2011.



‘I saw women giving him their phone number even when I was next to him.’

She once described her turbulent relationship with Mr Sarkozy, saying he was a ‘philanderer who loves no-body except himself.’



She also once accused him of inviting young women back to the Elysee Palace in Paris for ‘late night karaoke sessions.’

She says that she fell for Mr Attias because he was 'solid, precise and reassuring'



'I am just a simple person who has had a complicated life,' she writes.

As well as the Gaddafi allegations, Mr Sarkozy is facing claims that he received illegal cash donations from Liliane Bettencourt, the L’Oreal heiress and France’s richest woman.

