Francois Hollande Fights Back Against Trielweiler Memoir

French president François Hollande is fighting back against “Merci pour ce moment” (Thank You For the Moment), a memoir published by his ex-mistress, Valerie Trielweiler, in which the jilted journalist claims that the Socialist president is a big old snob.

“He presented himself [in his successful 2012 election campaign] as a man who disliked the rich,” wrote 49-year-old Trierweiler. “In reality, the president doesn’t like the poor. In private, this man — the left-winger — calls them ‘the toothless’ and is so pleased at how funny he is.”

Initially, a few opinion pieces claimed that the move would backfire on the spurned mistress, and there were numerous reports of French booksellers refusing to stock the memoir, as well as some indignant “how dare she” articles. Fact is, she dared and the book sold 200,000 copies in the first week and memes showing Hollande sans dent were popping up all around the world.

Hollande has denied ever saying such a thing and we read in a Swiss newspaper, Le Matin, that he said he has been wounded to the core by Trielweiler’s attack, insisting that his record proves it is not true. He even trotted out his humble grandparents and asked: “Do you believe that I have forgotten my roots?”

Here is a hilarious segment from “Last Week Tonight” featuring François Hollande which aired after the public revelation of his affair with French actress Julie Gayet and his subsequent breakup with Trielweiler, but well before this memoir.

If Hollande feels betrayed and embarrassed, well, isn’t that a taste of his own medicine? It probably would not have gone down this way if the French president had leveled with Valerie Treilweiler and broke it off before taking up with Julie Gayet.