* YOU BEEN SNAP* I should smash your face in, Sarkozy tells author who suggested Carla be kept away from 'handsome men'

By Flora Lyimo Designer*
With an ex-supermodel for a wife, one might suggest that Nicolas Sarkozy was already punching above his weight - now he appears to have taken such sentiments a little too literally.
The French president threatened to 'smash the face' of political editor Franz-Olivier Giesbert after the publication of an unflattering article about Carla Bruni in Le Point magazine.
According to Mr Giesbert's new book, M. Le President, there was a 40-minute, heated phone call between Mr Sarkozy and the editor about the article '24 tips to the President ahead of his marriage to Mademoiselle Bruni'.

My hero: Carla Bruni and husband Nicolas Sarkozy who threatened to 'smash the face' of an editor who suggested his wife was a maneater

It included the advice: 'Do not introduce your new wife to your sons, Barack Obama or any handsome men.'
The new biography contains lurid details of the president's outburst in January 2008.  


According to the Daily Telegraph, Mr Sarkozy told Mr Giesbert: 'This article is filth and I should smash your face in.'
Mr Giesbert replied: 'Are you threatening me?'

Cutting remarks: Writer Franz-Olivier Giesbert branded the French president 'tyrannical'

Mr Sarkozy said: 'You deserve it. I don't know what's holding me back', to which the writer answered: 'There is no reason for you and Carla to feel insulted.'
The president then told the journalist: 'I'm sure you'd blow your top if I wrote that your wife was a whore that everyone had slept with and even wanted to have sex with your children.'
'Never did our magazine suggest Carla was a whore,' Mr Giesbert said.

Damning depiction: Biography of Mr Sarkozy where he is described as a 'child king'

Former model Mrs Bruni-Sarkozy is known for her colourful romantic past. She once declared she was 'easily bored by monogamy' and has had relationships with Mick Jagger, Eric Clapton and Donald Trump.
She also went out with the well-known philosopher, Jean-Paul Enthoven, before leaving him for his son Raphael with whom she has a son.
She once said in an interview: 'Desire is not very precise in my case, so I never choose. The one thing all the men I've loved have in common is a strong feminine side. I find feminine men very virile and macho men very fragile. Machismo is a defence mechanism.'
She married Mr Sarkozy on February 2, 2008 at the Elysee Palace in Paris.
During the call to Mr Giesbert, the president demanded that the magazine make a written apology - a request which was denied.
'You'll see what I'm going to do to you,' Mr Sarkozy added.
Mr Giesbert said that Mr Sarkozy then put pressure on Francois Pinault, the billionaire who owns Le Point, to fire him - but to no avail.
Tensions were finally eased by Mrs Bruni-Sarkozy herself who put in a call to Mr Giesbert to tell him 'Nicolas is so in love, you understand. He cannot bear that people write this kind of thing about me'.
Mr Giesbert, who is a highly respected political biographer in France, lambasts Mr Sarkozy as a 'child king' who is 'drunk on himself', 'immature' and 'tyrannical' when it comes to his colleagues and friends.
But he does have a kind word for the president after being impressed by his literary knowledge at a recent event.
Although Mr Giesbert believes Mrs Bruni-Sarkozy, who has recorded several albums and will appear in the new Woody Allen film, is an influence, he also says: 'He is anything but uncultured.'