"According to our information, Cecilia Sarkozy appeared in the Nanterre court without her husband on Monday morning," LCI reported. "Accompanied by her lawyer, France's first lady filed a divorce application with the judge for family affairs."
Referring to "informed sources at the Elysee Palace" Le Nouvel Observateur also revealed the same information earlier, but Elysee spokesman David Martinon refused to comment on the reports.
LCI also said that the president did not "go to court in person," but "received the judge at the Elysee palace later the same day."
The couple filed divorce papers in the presence of their lawyers later, and judicial separation was announced. However, the divorce will be made final in six weeks, LCI said.
France has been abuzz with rumors of Sarkozy's divorce since Monday. The rumors were only reinforced by reports that Cecilia Sarkozy would not be accompanying her husband on his official visit to Morocco next week. The Sarkozys were last seen together on July 14, when France celebrated Bastille Day.
Nicolas Sarkozy's relationship with his second wife has been in the media limelight ever since their marriage in October 1996.
In May 2005, the Swiss newspaper Le Matin revealed that Cecilia had left Sarkozy for his friend French-Moroccan national Richard Attias, who heads the Publicis Events Worldwide agency in New York. Although Sarkozy later sued the paper, there were also widespread rumors that he himself had had an affair with a female journalist.
