Can you believe that this woman is the First Lady of France?

I know it's old news now that Carla Bruni is now "Mme. Sarkozy" but I just can't get over it. I've been enamoured of this woman since Chandler made me a mix of French music (I've always been something of a Francophile) when I was a junior in college.

I just think that this is something that would never happen in America (unless it were within the fictional bounds of a chick flick).

Anyway, if you don't know much about Carla Bruni, she was born in Italy (in 1973) and is the heiress to her grandfather's Italian tire company. Her mother is a classical pianist and her father is a classical composer and industrialist. However, it's come out that her biological father is actually a classical guitarist (and grocery store magnate) her mother had a 6-year affair with, who now lives in Brazil.

Her family moved to France when she was 5 years old to avoid kidnapping by the Red Brigades, a terrorist group. She went to boarding school in Switzerland, studied art and architecture in Paris and dropped out of school at age 19 to model. She modeled for all the big names--Dior, Chanel, Versace, Yves St. Laurent, etc...and dated Mick Jagger and Eric Clapton (she likes the older guys) while modeling. She left modeling in 1997 to pursue music full-time. She had a number of dramatic affairs.

Oh yeah, and then she met recently divorced Nicolas Sarkozy at a dinner in November 2007 and married him 3 months later, making her the First Lady of France.

How is that a real life? Lifetime movies have been attempting to create storylines like this for ages, and this woman has lived this way her whole life!