The French president, lagging in the polls behind the socialist frontrunner, François Hollande, has attempted to re-style himself as a man of the people, but is struggling to escape the perception that he is "President of the Rich", unpopular for his outlandish shows of bling and accused by the left of lavishing tax breaks on the wealthy while neglecting the concerns of everyday people. Bruni, Sarkozy's third wife, who is increasingly present at political rallies and TV appearances, then expressed annoyance that her husband was questioned over a love of wealth, exclaiming to le Monde: "We're modest people." The boast of humility from Bruni, an Italian-born multi-millionaire heiress who at the height of her supermodel fame made £4.7m a year, caused eyebrows to be raised among political journalists and those on the political left. He said it wasn't about "putting on a cap or playing the accordion" but talking the "language" of the people.
– French First Lady Carla Bruni Sarkozy likes to mingle with the hoi polloi in Paris—but she does does so, incognito, in a wig, she reveals. "With a wig on, no one recognizes me on the Metro," she tells the Nouvel Observateur. "Recently, I even had my bag searched at the Maritime museum"—just like any normal person. France erupted in guffaws last month when the multimillionaire heiress boasted that she and hubby Nicolas Sarkozy were just "simple, modest" folk. The image of a bewigged Carla mingling with the populace appears to be the latest effort to remake "President Bling" into a man of the people as he battles Socialist François Hollande in the French presidential election, notes the Guardian.