'It’s hell. I can’t stand it!’ Carla Bruni reveals what Michelle Obama REALLY thinks of being First Lady 
 
 By Peter Allen 
 
 
 
 Last updated at 9:01 PM on 16th September 2010 
 
 New biography alleges rivalry between two women strained relations between the French and U.S. presidential couples 
 
 Michelle Obama thinks being America’s First Lady is ‘hell’, Carla Bruni reveals today in a wildly indiscreet book. 
 
 Miss Bruni divulges that Mrs Obama replied when asked about her position as the U.S. president’s wife: ‘Don’t ask! It’s hell. I can’t stand it!’ 
 
 Details of the private conversation, which took place at the White House during an official visit by Nicolas Sarkozy last March, emerged in Carla And The Ambitious. 
 
 The book was written by journalists Michael Darmon and Yves Derai in what they claim is collaboration with Miss Bruni. 
 
 No secrets: Michelle Obama, left, and Carla Bruni last year. Miss Bruni made the revelations about the U.S. First Lady's feelings in a wildly indiscreet new book 
 
 Time for a little chat: Another biography about Carla refers to an alleged rivalry with Michelle and says it has strained relations between the French and U.S. presidential couples 
 
 Described by one of the French authors as 'Carla in her own words,' she portrays herself as demanding, spoilt, and selfish. 
 
 She also gives extraordinary insight into her life as the wife of a leader - and her relationship with some of the most prominent figures in the world, including the American president. 
 
 'On the advice of the Obamas,' she says, 'We don't read the papers in the morning any more.' 
 
 She does not speak to the American First Lady very often, she adds, but said that she likes her and 'could be her friend.' 
 
 Miss Bruni also tells how the U.S. President called her husband to congratulate him on becoming a grandfather after his son Jean had a baby boy Solal in January this year. 
 
 A wave for the cameras: The Obamas are greeted by the French president and his wife. Michelle is described in a biography of Carla as 'the only one in (Carla's) eyes able to challenge her for the title of the world's sexiest and most glamorous first lady' 
 
 Sarkozy pretended to be offended and said: 'You too, you will be a granddad one day'. 
 
 Mr Obama then teased him furhter by asking what Carla thought about being married to someone who was a grandfather. 
 
 In the book, Miss Bruni says one term as French president ‘will be enough’ for her husband and suggests he might take tips from his friend Tony Blair: ‘Why not start making money?’ 
 
 According to a friend quoted in the book, the Sarkozys have been ‘impressed and inspired’ by Mr Blair’s fortune built up since he left Downing Street. 
 
 Miss Bruni also takes a thinly-veiled swipe at Princess Diana when talking about a visit to an African hospital full of Aids victims earlier this year. 
 
 She says she refused requests by French cameramen for a photograph of her carrying a baby in her arms ‘like Lady Di’, adding: ‘There’s something obscene in promoting yourself when you are giving of yourself.’ 
 
 In the book, the Italian model, 42, accuses French government officials of trying to ‘kill’ her husband with too much work, and claims Mr Sarkozy lets himself be ‘bullied’ into complying. 
 
 Time limit: Carla with husband Nicolas Sarkozy. She claims one term as French president will be enough for him 
 
 Comparing herself to other leaders’ wives, Miss Bruni says: ‘I’m so different. I was a model. I sing, and I want to continue to sing. And on top of that you expect me to be subtle?’ And she admits: ‘I am a femme fatale, my dear.’ 
 
 Tony Blair promoting his autobiography in New York. According to a friend quoted in Carla And The Ambitious, the Sarkozys have been 'impressed and inspired' by Mr Blair's fortune built up since he left Downing Street 
 
 She also recounts a telephone row with Mr Sarkozy’s ex-wife Cecilia, who warned her that Mr Sarkozy had ‘not yet turned a new page’ after their marriage. 
 
 Miss Bruni replied: ‘Not only has he turned a page but he’s changed books altogether. And you are the only person on earth not to have noticed it.’ 
 
 The Elysee Palace has denied that the Miss Bruni co-operated with the biography. 
 
 Coincidentally, a second book - this one completely unauthorised - was published this week which also suggest a fractious relationship between Bruni and the First Lady. 
 
 Its author Besma Lahouri refers to an alleged rivalry with Michelle Obama and says it has strained relations between the French and U.S. presidential couples. 
 
 '[Michelle Obama] the only one in (Carla's) eyes able to challenge her for the title of the world's sexiest and most glamorous first lady' 
 
 Ms Lahouri says, Bruni-Sarkozy's obsessions have shifted away from rock stars to women she perceives as rivals. 
 
 
 
 One is Nicolas Sarkozy's second wife Cecilia, who was divorced from the French president months after he took office and the second is Michelle Obama. 
 
 She is described in the book as 'the only one in (Carla's) eyes able to challenge her for the title of the world's sexiest and most glamorous first lady'. 
 
 The book chronicles the minutia of the first ladies' various meetings, suggesting that Obama's alleged antipathy, or perhaps just indifference, to Bruni-Sarkozy has allegedly helped keep relations frosty between the French and U.S. presidential couples. 
 
 Ms Lahouri says Bruni-Sarkozy is 'a chameleon', someone who has 'trained herself to be a formidable actress'. 
 
 'She is a very foxy woman - I choose the word "foxy" over "clever". In fact, very foxy.' 
 
 The investigative reporter says Bruni's image of distant, well-heeled perfection has kept her at arm's length from the French people. 
 
 However, a spokesman at the French Embassy in Washington, Emmanuel Lenain, told CBS News that Bruni was not involved in writing the book. 
 
 
 
 
 
 ||||| The White House is denying that first lady Michelle Obama ever described her White House life as "hell." 
 
 Mrs. Obama's spokeswoman, Katie McCormick Lelyveld, responded Thursday to a purported comment attributed to Mrs. Obama in a forthcoming book, "Carla and the Ambitious," about French first lady Carla Bruni-Sarkozy. The book says Bruni-Sarkozy recalled that during a recent White House visit with her husband, the French president, she asked Mrs. Obama about her new role. According to the book, Mrs. Obama replied: "It's hell. I can't stand it." 
 
 The French Embassy in Washington also released a statement denying that Mrs. Obama ever said those words. The Embassy says Bruni-Sarkozy "distances herself completely" from the book, which is due out Friday.
– Just in time for election season, a story Michelle Obama can't possibly be happy to see: In a new book, Carla Bruni-Sarkozy claims Obama told her that being first lady is "hell. I can't stand it!" (The White House and the French Embassy in Washington deny that Obama said any such thing, the AP reports.) Carla and the Ambitious, which was reportedly written in collaboration with the French first lady, is "wildly indiscreet," the Daily Mail reports; the French Embassy says Bruni-Sarkozy "distances herself completely" from the book, out tomorrow. Another book, an unauthorized biography of Bruni-Sarkozy, details the apparently chilly relationship between the first ladies, alleging Bruni-Sarkozy sees Obama as a rival. Michelle is "the only one in (Carla's) eyes able to challenge her for the title of the world's sexiest and most glamorous first lady," Besma Lahouri claims in Carla: A Secret Life. For more scandalous tell-all revelations about Bruni-Sarkozy, click here.