Carla Bruni, France's First Lady, has spoken of her desperation to have a baby.
According to the latest edition of a French magazine, the former supermodel, 43, and her husband, President Nicolas Sarkozy, 55, are hoping to have a child in 2012, just ahead of the next French presidential election.
And if Miss Bruni is unable to conceive naturally, they would consider adopting a baby boy, glossy magazine Gala said.
The speculation comes just a month after Miss Bruni told a religious cleric during a state visit to India that she was 'praying for a son'.
Miss Bruni already has a nine-year-old son Aurelian from a previous relationship while Sarkozy has three children from two previous marriages, and is also a grandfather.
Now Gala magazine has revealed: 'Carla wants to offer Nicolas a male child in 2012, but if she is too old to conceive, she would adopt.
'The child would also be a way of silencing everything that has been said and written about their relationship in the French media.'
The news comes in the week Carla Bruni was voted France's most irritating celebrity in a nationwide poll of 2010's most annoying people.
Her husband was fourth in the same survey of France's most irritating politicians.
Observers in France said Miss Bruni's unpopularity could be caused by her almost constant presence in newspapers and magazines since she married President Sarkozy after a whirlwind romance three years ago.
In March this year she was forced to deny rumours she was having an affair with French pop star Benjamin Biolay.
In May, she sparked outrage among France's tens of millions of Catholics by branding the Pope's views on contraception as 'backward'.
And in October, she was humiliated by the results of a Grazia magazine poll in which she came a lowly 13th in a list of France's most influential women, behind a host of politicians, TV presenters and actresses.
French daily Le Parisien said: 'Carla Bruni's constant presence in the media clearly gets on a lot of people's nerves.
'This couple clearly have a lot of PR work to do for themselves over the next 12 months.'
Related articles