Carla Bruni ‘may decide to adopt’

When Carla Bruni (pictured) first met her husband-to-be Nicolas Sarkozy she made no bones about the fact that she wanted to have a child. And 13 months into their marriage, she reveals that her enthusiasm to hear the pitter-patter of tiny feet at the Elysee Palace remains undiminished.

Speaking to Madame Figaro magazine, she says that if she and her husband cannot have a baby naturally, she intends to look into adoption. "Adoption is perhaps the purist form of motherhood,” says France’s First Lady. “I would like [to have a baby with my husband], but I don't know if at my age it would be possible. If it's not biologically possible, I'll adopt one."

The 41-year-old supermodel turned pop singer already has a seven-year-old son from a previous partner, the philosopher Raphael Enthoven. And President Sarkozy, 54, has three sons from two previous marriages.

Bruni adds: "I'm not obsessed by blood ties. I think you can build a powerful bond without that. So I'd love to have a child, but I'm not going to fight against nature, and at the same time, as I already have one, and my husband has three, you can't really say we have a need of children," she said.

In the interview, Bruni denies a claim that she has more highbrow tastes than her husband. She claims the books on his bedside table include works by the philosopher Jean-Paul Sartre, the 19th century novelist Alexandre Dumas and the Roman emperor Marcus Aurelius. "There is this stereotype about the Right in general and my husband in particular: that they lack culture," she says. "The truth is that my husband spends all his free time reading."