François Mitterrand: Catherine Nay tells the behind the scenes of the Mazarine Pingeot affair

INTERVIEW

It is the story of the most famous double life in French political history.

The editorialist of Europe 1 Catherine Nay returns, in the program

, on the hidden relationship between François Mitterrand and Anne Pingeot, of which Mazarine Pingeot is the daughter.

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Relative discretion

According to Catherine Nay, the extra-marital relationship, revealed in 1994, has not always been very discreet.

"All journalists knew it at the dawn of the 1980s, often even before her election," she said.

"I remember that in 1976, I had lunch in Saint-Germain-des-Prés, and at a table next door, there was Mitterrand with a young brunette woman, a young boy (I knew afterwards that it was Anne Pingeot's younger brother), and a doll that must have been 15 or 16 months old. It was Mazarine. "

But these meetings in broad daylight did not let imagine that François Mitterrand was the father of the young girl.

"We felt a mad love between Mitterrand and the child, everyone was watching, but no one could think at the time that this little girl was a late harvest of the candidate of the left", she smiles. 

It was later that journalists began to have doubts.

"When the 1980s arrived, when we saw the Socialists, we said: 'It's weird, when you get in the car with the First Secretary, there is a plastic duck toy in the back, that Does that sound like there? ”, says Catherine Nay.

"In 1980, we knew there was this double life. But no one was talking about it."

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 Anne Pingeot, the other wife of François Mitterrand

The silence of the media at the time

This omerta among the media has, according to Catherine Nay, imposed itself.

"I think Mitterrand was the last president to be able to live as he pleases, at his freedom, without being betrayed or pursued by the media," she theorizes, referring to journalists of the time "self-censorship" .

The columnist thus remembers having surprised in 1983 the one who was then President of the Republic, in a children's shoe store, in the company of Anne and Mazarine Pingeot.

“At the time, there were no laptops to take a photo,” she recalls.

"If I had called a photographer, who would have posted the photo? Nobody. There was no celebrity press, there was no social media."

When she published

in 1984

which recounts the rise of François Mitterrand, Catherine Nay was silent on the existence of Mazarine Pingeot.

“There was a consensus between journalists and politicians: we weren't talking about privacy,” she explains.

"Times have changed: not to mention it in my book today would be a mistake".

>> READ ALSO - 

Letters from Mitterrand: Anne Pingeot explains herself

Mitterrand-Pingeot: a fiery correspondence

It took a few years for François Mitterrand to get closer to Anne Pingeot, in an attitude that Catherine Nay does not hesitate to describe as "predatory".

"It was the father who played golf with Mitterrand in Hossegor, who told him 'My daughter is going to study in Paris, keep an eye on her'", reveals the political columnist.

"He began writing to her in 1962. She was 19 years old. And then, in 1963, a little more. He sent books. He wanted to discuss, to go for a walk," says Catherine Nay.

"Then, little by little, towards the end of 1963, he said to her 'How good I feel with you', 'Fifteen days without seeing you, it's bad luck.' In 1964, he wrote to her practically three times a week and we feel that the man is expressing his desire to him. "

Catherine Nay points out that the tone of the letters changes, once the suitor and the young woman are united: "What is very funny is that in April or May 1964 (Anne is 21 years old, that is say that she is of age), they are having a party. I think this is the first time that she gives herself to him. And the next day, in the letters, he no longer says 'you' to her, he said 'you'. I find that extraordinary! "

A touch of humor that the editorialist qualifies, however: "Mitterrand was a predator, he really sought him."

>> READ ALSO -

 Danielle Mitterrand, tears on the left

A well-orchestrated revelation

The extra-marital relationship between Anne Pingeot and François Mitterrand, as well as the existence of Mazarine Pingeot, were revealed to the general public in 1994. The information shakes the population and the political class.

But, for Catherine Nay, the one who was not surprised is the first concerned himself.

“Mitterrand himself chose

to formalize Mazarine's existence in 1994, with this supposedly stolen photo, but completely arranged,” she explains.

"He wanted it back then, and he orchestrated it."