Nicolas Sarkozy, France’s diminutive ex-president, has prompted national mirth after he was featured towering over his tall supermodel wife Carla on the front cover of this week’s Paris Match magazine, reports The Telegraph.
“Sarko” as the French call the 64-year-old, was posing for the glossy weekly days after the release of his new autobiography, 'Passions', which has shot to the top of the bestseller list.
The conservative French ex-head of state beams at the camera a good head and shoulders above his wife Carla Bruni-Sarkozy, 51, who nuzzles his neck despite the fact that he stands at 1.66m (5ft5in) and she is almost 10cm taller at 1.75m (5ft9in).
The image prompted a series of mocking photoshopped montages involving step-ladders and platform shoes before Paris Match issued a statement to deny any stage-management of the picture.