Is Carla Bruni expecting twins? Fashion magazine claims French First Lady is due in the autumn

Is Carla Bruni expecting twins? Fashion magazine claims French First Lady is due in the autumn - Carla Bruni is expecting twins in the autumn, it was claimed in France today.

Voici, a Paris weekly magazine with excellent contacts in the fashion world, claims the 43-year-old First Lady 'won’t be able to keep her bump hidden for much longer.'

At the weekend the former supermodel was seen covering her stomach with a shawl, and did not deny that she was expecting her first child with President Nicolas Sarkozy, 56.

'We can now be a little more specific about the speculation that the First lady is pregnant,' says Voici in an editorial, without naming its sources, adding: 'She is expecting twins.'

In an interview with Le Parisien on Monday, Ms Bruni spoke for the first time about her alleged pregnancy – offering a rambling explanation about why she wants to keep it a secret.

She said she was prepared to talk about it 'woman to woman' in a café, but not in public.

She has a nine-year-old son, Aurelian, with another lover, but makes it clear in the interview his privacy is paramount.

Is that a bump: Ms Bruni, pictured on April 22, is said to be expecting twins, according to a French magazine

Responding to a woman reader of the newspaper who asked her directly if she would talk about her pregnancy, Carla responded: 'It’s kind to have asked. If you’ll permit me, I won’t answer all these questions about my family.

'I also have a little boy – I don't answer questions about my little boy. If we were both at a café, I would tell you frankly.'

Carla then launched into a convoluted – and at times confusing - explanation about why she won't discuss her pregnancy.

'Why won’t I tell you? I'll tell you,' she said, referring continually to Mr Sarkozy's career.

'Around 180 per cent of the time my husband is dealing with his country. He only talks about that. He does nothing else. He's obsessed by that. Unfortunately for me, fortunately for everybody else!

'Then me, I speak about something, it takes precedence over everything he does. I would certainly like to talk to you, woman to woman, about my family life, about my personal dreams, details about certain things.

An interview in Le Parisien was carried out by readers, whom Ms Bruni said she would be glad to talk to 'in a café' but not in front of cameras

'In addition, I'm very talkative. But then, I'm kind of lips sealed. Not out of arrogance or out of a taste for secrecy. My lips are sealed to protect something and to protect all the work he does.

'Because there are newspapers that are only interested in that, which is normal.

'Me too, when I read things about other people's lives, I'm interested! But this takes a very important place.

'In addition, it does not protect the family. It's not even to protect my privacy, which is also a curious little term.

'I would love to talk, but after it takes the entire space. And it involves other people. So I do not answer.'

Despite Carla’s rambling, a member of the readership panel which interviewed her, made it clear that she was 100 per cent pregnant.

The unnamed interviewer said: 'She hid her little stomach with her shawl every time that a photographer approached, she did not deny it when we asked the question without a microphone.

Expecting: Ms Bruni, pictured here last September, was very coy about discussing her reported pregnancy in public

'But she has a reason to be careful – at 43 it’s always going to be a risky pregnancy.’

Carla, who was once a self-styled champagne socialist, used the rest of the interview to confirm that she was now a confirmed right-winger who approved of her husband's conservative agenda for France.

'I am not anymore, not at all of the Left', said Carla, adding: 'I'm ultra Sarkozyiste.'

Mr Sarkozy is up for re-election next Spring, and both he and his wife will hope that a presidential baby will help with the campaign.

Carla had Aurelien in 2001 with her then lover, the Paris philosopher Raphael Enthoven.

Carla's guards Aurelien's privacy ferociously, and the nine-year-old has not been pictured with her in public since the early days of her relationship with Mr Sarkozy.

Mr Sarkozy has two sons, Pierre, 26, and Jean, 25, from his first marriage to Marie-Dominique Culioli.

He then had a son, 14-year-old Louis, with his second wife, Cecilia Ciganer-Albeniz.

Mr Sakozy also has two step-daughters from his failed marriage to Ms Ciganer-Albeniz.

An Elysee Palace spokesman said Carla's pregnancy was a 'private matter'. ( dailymail.co.uk )