Saturday January 21, 2023, Claudia Cardinale gave an interview to the Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera. While the media have long lent her an affair with Jacques Chirac, the actress has agreed to give her version of the story.
A rumor that continues to persist… Since the 1990s, Claudia Cardinale and Jacques Chirac are the subject of a rumor: the former President of the Republic and the actress would have had an affair. In the book Sexus Politicus, journalists Christophe Dubois and Christophe Deloire wrote: “At the Élysée, Chirac appreciates, from time to time, the company of Claudia Cardinale. The rumor of an affair between the Italian actress runs the Tour-Paris. The actress (…) is obliged to deny.“For his part, Aquilino Morelle, adviser to Lionel Jospin, had assured that the husband of Bernadette Chirac had spent the night with the actress the evening of the death of Lady Diana.
On Saturday January 21, 2023, it was when she was asked about this rumor that Claudia Cardinale confided to the Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera: “This is absolutely not true. I had supported his election campaign, because at that time he seemed to me to be the right President and the press made a big deal out of it. Realize: I said no to Brando, to Delon, to Marcello… Chirac was supposed to be a ‘ladies’ man’, but not with me.Agreeing to say more, the actress said, “Chirac had given me the Legion of Honor, and I had defended his candidacy publicly. These two elements, added to his reputation as a ladies’ man, could be enough to give rise to rumours. But I assure you that it is only that…“
Claudia Cardinale: “The photos that showed us ‘together’ were montages”
During this interview, the famous actress also denied the presence of the former President of the Republic at her home on the evening of the death of Lady Diana. “The photos that showed us ‘together’ were montages. They had removed the face of my friend Jacques Moisant and put that of Chirac in its place. We realized this later, because Moisant had an eccentric taste for waistcoats. Chirac was very embarrassed by this rumor. He wrote me a letter, which I keep, in which he was amused. But he also wrote that he was flattered“, she clarified.