A Love Triangle Gone Dangerously Public

If you believe the French weekly Le Point, Thomas Hollande, the 27-year-old lawyer and son of President François Hollande and his former partner, Ségolène Royal, blasted his father’s current partner in an interview for “putting private life in the public domain” by backing a political opponent of his mother

report Steven Erlanger and Maïa de la Baume from Paris.

If you believe Thomas Hollande, on the other hand, there was no such interview, just a conversation with a young woman who twisted his words.

… According to Le Point, Thomas Hollande said his father was “stupefied” by a Twitter posting from Valérie Trierweiler, his partner, publicly supporting Ms. Royal’s opponent in a legislative race. Ms. Trierweiler was said to have been angered when the president issued a public statement of support for Ms. Royal. Ms. Trierweiler’s action, highly criticized at the time, was seen as damaging to the elder Mr. Hollande’s effort to be a “normal president,” without the emotional swings and personal complications of his predecessor, Nicolas Sarkozy.

Ms. Royal lost her race, but it was doubtful whether she could have beaten her popular local opponent in any case.