Bruni: Michelle Could Give Me Pointers

Michelle Obama just moved into the White House, but America’s first lady could teach a few things to her more veteran French counterpart, confesses Carla Bruni in Vogue. “I fell into my husband’s life from another world,” explains the model-turned-singer, who's been the French first lady for about a year. “Michelle Obama would probably have more advice for me than I have for her.”

Bruni's friends say she calms her petulant husband, making “him into the kind of man intellectuals can be seen with,” says one. But she has changed, too. "Before, I lived in a privileged bubble. My view of the world was constructed in a life where I never saw real action, only listened to a lot of words. ... There's a big difference between the intellectuals of the Café Flore and people who actually have power, between thought and action. Thought can be free, but action is never free—it has to deal with reality."

(More Carla Bruni stories.)