At the end of 1974, Jacques Chirac is an ambitious prime minister. Former Minister of the Interior, he carries out his functions with seriousness under the presidency of Valéry Giscard d’Estaing and aspires to only one thing: the presidency of the Republic, which he will end up obtaining in 1995. Worker, he is quite popular with the public who loves this 43-year-old young man who is modernizing political life.
In his private life, married to his wife Bernadette and father of two teenage girls (Laurence and Claude), he seems just as serious. But under the veneer of this perfect politician hides in reality a man ready to succumb to the charm of a pretty woman… and that’s exactly what will end up happening at the end of the year 1974. Young and pretty, Jacqueline Chabridon is appointed by the editor-in-chief of the Figaro to follow Jacques Chirac in his actions and travels.
Finding it too much”smug and corny as can be“, she goes there reluctantly. But immediately, the magic happens : when he wants to test her, he dares her to eat “one of the calves’ heads lined up on the sideboard“, says Jean Garrigues in his book An erotic history of the Élysée: from the Pompadour to the paparazzi. The young lady, “happy living“, runs and Jacques Chirac is under the spell. Going out of his way to see her again, he will begin an idyll with her during the following weeks.
Renowned as a seducer throughout his life, Jacques Chirac this time had a real crush on this young woman “for whom he almost left everything“, according to journalists Laureline Dupont and Pauline de Saint-Rémy. “It had repercussions on his political life, in a pivotal moment“, they reveal. It must be said that the man is climbing the rungs of the ranks at the head of the state and that his affair is less and less secret.
“Many people knew at the time“, emphasizes Laureline Dupont, one of the two authors. “The subject is talked about in Parisian dinners“, especially since the young woman clearly has a left heart and is rebuffed by her friends. Bernadette Chirac, in private, works as much as possible to separate them… which will eventually happen: in the summer of 1976, Jacques Chirac secretly empties the apartment where his mistress lived and who was nicknamed the Prime Minister’s “boyfriend”.The story ends abruptly.
“Many witnesses told us that Chirac […] needed to have his heart and hands free“, conclude the two journalists. “Because he maintained a carnal and warm relationship with the voters. Our theory is thathe was overtaken by his ambition, more than by those around him“. A great journalist, Jacqueline Chabridon became editor-in-chief of RMC, before taking a well-deserved retirement. Today, at 75, she lives in discretion… and that suits her very well!