You’re fired

She might have dropped out of the headlines for the past few months, but France’s former almost-but-not-quite first lady, Cécilia Sarkozy, is back in the news once again.

Actually the press has returned to using her pre-Sarkozy and pre-Martin maiden name of Ciganer-Albéniz, in reporting gossip circulating that she’s about to follow her second better-half, Nicolas, up the aisle to make it third time lucky.

The story first “broke” in January in the daily national Le Parisien that Cécilia and the one for whom she turned down wedded Bling Bling bliss at the Elysée palace, French media hot shot Richard Attias, were due to tie the knot some time in March.

Attias issued a hasty denial in a formal statement that also threatened legal action if further reports appeared that “made any allusion to a forthcoming marriage.”

Public posturing perhaps from a private person trying to scotch any interest in what might or might not be in the pipeline, and about as successful as Sarkozy N was in keeping his whirlwind romance with his Carla off the front pages. It obviously requires time and effort to orchestrate a story so that it unfolds in the way the main protagonists wish.

Not surprisingly the rumours resurfaced at the beginning of March when the fashion house, Versace, spilled the proverbial beans. In a bout of self-praising backslapping it informed those who were interested, and probably many who were not, that the couple had chosen to tog themselves up in made-to-measure His ‘n Hers from its haute couture to celebrate their “happy occasion” slated in New York for the end of this month.

Clearly Ciganer-Albéniz was not amused by the betrayal of confidence and according to this weekend’s edition of Le Journal du Dimanche, somewhat belatedly “fired” the fashion house, preferring to look elsewhere for the right clobber.

Oh dear the trials and tribulations of being a don’t-wannabe public figure.

Admittedly both Ciganer-Albéniz and Attias have cast themselves as rather unwilling participants in the whole merry go round. But they cannot really be surprised by the level of interest in their impending whatever’s.

Their romance dates back to 2005 when Cécilia, on a “time out” from Sarkozy, split her time between Paris and New York. Photographs and an account of their lives even made it on to the pages of the weekly glossy, Paris Match, before the wayward wife half-heartedly returned to give her marriage a second bash just ahead of presidential campaigning.

Cécilia must be well used to the attention by now with two marriages and divorces to high profile husbands behind her, Sarkozy and the later French television entertainer, Jacques Martin.

And similarly Attias, as head honcho at the French media group Publicis, can be no stranger to the way a story unfolds once the news juggernaut has got wind of it.

Bring on the wedding bells and be done with it.