PA
Carla Bruni is pregnant with twins at the age of 43, according to French glossy magazine Voici.
The former supermodel has been at the centre of is-she-isn't-she-pregnant speculation for the past week.
Now Voici claims she is expecting twins in October.
The claims come after Mrs Bruni-Sarkozy – who is also said to have given up smoking – hinted she and her 56-year-old husband were expecting a baby and following holiday pics of him tenderly kissing her, admittedly very slim, tummy.
When asked directly if she was pregnant in an interview on Monday, she replied teasingly that she would "remain tight-lipped about that to protect something".
Mrs Bruni-Sarkozy was asked by one of six readers of Le Parisien newspaper invited to the Elysee Palace to interview her: "Are you expecting a baby?"
She answered: "If you'll allow me, I'd rather not answer these questions about my family.
I'd love to talk to you woman to woman about my family life, my personal dreams – and I'm really a very chatty person.
"But on this subject, I'm going to keep quiet. Not through arrogance or because I like keeping secrets. I am remaining tight-lipped about that to protect something."
She went on: "I would really like to to talk about it, but then it would take over everything else.
And besides, it also involves people, so I'm not answering."
The first claims of a pregnancy emerged in France's Closer magazine last week. News magazine VSD then said the claims had been confirmed in off-the-record remarks by a senior aide to President Sarkozy.
If the rumours are true, then the birth is ideally timed to happen well before Sarkozy begins campaigning for the presidential elections in May 2012.
The president's communication chief at the Elysee Palace Elysee, Franck Louvrier, has refused to officially confirm the latest rumours. He said sniffily: "This is a subject that is none of my business."
But it's not going to stop the rest of us speculating.