France: Carla Bruni stands up for gay marriage

Ms Bruni also revealed she was not an active feminist, because the pioneers of women’s rights had already “opened that breach”.

The multi-millionaire former supermodel also insisted she was just a “bourgeoise mother” who relished normal family life.

The 45-year-old singer shared her views on life after the  Elysee Palace with the December edition of French Vogue magazine.

Asked about left-wing president Francois Hollande’s contentious plans to legalise same-sex marriage next year, she said: “I’m rather in favour because I have a lot of friends – men and women – who are in this situation and I see nothing unstable or perverse in families with gay parents.”

But she said her husband, and former president, Nicolas Sarkozy, did not agree with her, adding: “Nicolas sees people in groups of thousands rather than as groups of friends we know.”

Though surveys have found that the majority of French people favour gay marriage, there has been a vocal backlash from religious leaders, voters in rural areas and within Mr Sarkozy’s own UMP party.

Ms Bruni gave birth to their first baby, Giulia, last year. She also has an 11-year-old son, Aurelian, with French philosopher Raphael Enthoven – one of a string of high-profile lovers, which included Mick Jagger, Eric Clapton and Donald Trump.

She told Vogue she was not a feminist, insisting: “We don’t need to be feminist in my generation. There are pioneers who opened the breach.

“I’m not at all an active feminist. On the contrary, I’m a bourgeois. I love family life, I love doing the same thing every day.”

The Italian-born heiress hinted that she had no wish for Mr Sarkozy to bid for a second term as president.

She said: “I don’t really want to talk about that. It was a great adventure, but these days I just want to be a normal citizen again like everyone else.

Her comments come amid media speculation in France that Mr Sarkozy will resume control over his right-wing UMP political party to quell a scrap for the leadership by two of his former ministers, Jean-Francois Cope and Francois Fillon.

Last night, Mr Cope was confirmed by the UMP as having won the 18 November leadership vote, according to an adjusted ballot count carried out after accusations of vote fraud.

An internal committee at the UMP party said revised results showed that Mr Cope, mayor of a town near Paris, had won the party election by 952 votes out of about 173,000 votes cast.

Mr Cope had been declared the winner a week ago with a victory of 98 votes, but rival Mr Fillon contested the vote and said he would have won by 26 votes had overseas territories not been omitted by mistake.

With his party split into two bitter camps, Mr Sarkozy, who is also battling allegations over the illegal funding of his 2007 presidential campaign, has refused to comment on whether he has plans to return to politics.