Carla Bruni is a chameleon, claims book

France’s glamourous first lady Carla Bruni is “a chameleon” who has become a “political liability” for hubby president Nicolas Sarkozy, says a book.

According to the book, Carla: A Secret Life, the 42-year-old former Italian supermodel’s alleged rivalry with US first lady Michelle Obama has strained relations between the French and American presidential couples.

In her biographical book, author Besma Lahouri also says Bruni’s image of distant, well-heeled perfection has kept her at arm’s length from the French people, at a time when president Sarkozy’s popularity has plummeted.

“She’s a chameleon, someone who has trained herself to be a formidable actress. The French don’t know their first lady, and her worries seem to them very far removed from their own,” Lahouri, a leading investigative journalist, was quoted by the media as saying.

The author added, “All the French have seen of Bruni-Sarkozy of late is footage of her with the Queen of England and other dignitaries, picture-perfect in Christian Dior skirt suits with marching hats, shoes and handbags.”

The book also details Bruni’s numerous love affairs with a long list of celebrity boyfriends, including English rock stars Mick Jagger and Eric Clapton.

Among the boyfriends is an unnamed Paris plastic surgeon who had a professional and personal “relationship” with Bruni, for more than 20 years. He is believed to meet Bruni regularly in Paris to administer botox injections, aimed at keeping her looking as young. Bruni has always denied having any surgery.

Though Lahouri said the spectre of a lawsuit forced her to edit the book liberally, there’s plenty of hot-button material left.

As first lady, Lahouri says, Bruni-Sarkozy’s obsessions have shifted away from rock stars to women she perceives as rivals — Sarkozy’s second wife Cecilia and Mrs Obama, described in the book as “the only one in (Carla’s) eyes able to challenge her for the title of the world’s sexiest and most glamourous first lady.”