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Though Bruni has never let marriage vows stand in her way, Sarkozy's relationship with his wife was on the rocks well before the model caught his eye. During the then 52-year-old's campaign for the presidency, the papers were filled with rumors of his crumbling marriage. Cecilia Sarkozy, his partner of 23 years, was clearly uncomfortable in the spotlight and rarely joined her husband on the trail. On Sarkozy's first visit to America after he was elected, the couple was invited to a private picnic with President Bush and his father in Kennebunkport, Maine. Cecilia bowed out, claiming illness, raising eyebrows when she was subsequently spotted shopping at a mall—a move that put a damper on the Franco-American détente. Soon after they arrived home, the couple announced their divorce. The French press cynically charged that Sarkozy had timed the announcement to divert attention from nationwide strikes then threatening the French economy.

Friends whispered that Sarkozy was devastated by the split. If so, he didn't stay depressed for long. Dubbed "President Bling Bling" due to his fondness for Prada suits, Rolex watches, and yachts, Sarkozy became a regular fixture at exclusive parties, and even hit the Paris nightclub scene. It was at a private fete just a month after his divorce that Sarkozy was introduced to the then 39-year-old Bruni. He was instantly smitten. For her part, Bruni was said to have been highly amused at the thought of landing herself a president. "I want a man with nuclear power," she told one friend, her voice no doubt dripping with the predatory charm of a Bond arch-villainess.

Yet in her first interview as Madame Sarkozy, published in the weekly news magazine L'Express, Bruni downplayed her randy reputation. Posing in a ladylike, crisp white shirt and a gray cable-knit cashmere sweater, she looked every bit the staid Stepford wife: "I am ... First Lady until the end of my husband's term of office, and his wife until death," she declared. Vowing to put her music career on hold for the good of the country, she left herself a bit of wiggle room should she tire of her new role. "I know that life can hold surprises, but that is my wish," she said, eyelashes aflutter. "I am proud and happy to be First Lady of France. I will do my best."

Of course, old habits die hard. And when it comes to men, France's new First Lady has some very particular habits. At the height of her modeling career in the late 1980s, Bruni, then a runway regular with a coveted Guess campaign under her belt, was regularly seen out and about in London and New York on the arm of rocker Eric Clapton—at least until she ditched old "Slowhand" and upgraded to Mick Jagger. The affair was news to Jerry Hall, who had just given birth to Jagger's daughter Georgia when she got word that the rocker had elected to celebrate the happy occasion by embarking on a romantic Thai getaway with Bruni.

Years later, Clapton seemed to have recovered from his run-in with the model, concluding philosophically that their break-up had been all for the best. "I quietly felt both gratitude and compassion toward [Jagger]," he wrote candidly in his memoir, "first for delivering me from certain doom, and second for apparently suffering such prolonged agony in [Carla's] service."

Hall was less forgiving. After she discovered a fax from Carla to Mick arranging a liaison in Las Vegas, she confronted her rival at a party with a kick in the shins, screaming: "Keep your hands off my man!"

But while she clearly enjoys the hunt, Bruni has never played for keeps. As she has explained publicly, being saddled with a ball and chain, even one as prized as Mick Jagger, was simply not her thing. "I don't care so much about fidelity, commitment," she told one reporter. "I don't believe in promises. It's like prison."

The model was the consummate wild child in those years, clubbing with the likes of Naomi Campbell and Gianni Versace, and startling guests at Monaco's staid Red Cross Ball in 1994 by leaping onto Stevie Wonder's piano in the middle of a performance. Meanwhile, unlike some of her peers, she rarely turned down an opportunity to pose nude in fashion editorials.