Francois Hollande is the president of France and a prominent politician. Because of this, he is in the media on a virtually perpetual basis. However, there are still some little-known facts that most people don’t know about this French politician. Here, we present our list of 15 things you probably didn’t know about Francois Hollande. Check out part one below, and stay tuned for part two, coming soon!
Number Fifteen: He Has Never Been Married. Though Hollande was with partner Segolene Royal for more than 30 years, they never got married. He also never married his next partner Valerie Trierweiler and is not married to his current partner Julie Gayet.
Number Fourteen: He Went on a Diet to Improve His Image. After garnering some negative press for being overweight and bland, Hollande actually went on a diet and lost 26 pounds. He also had to replace his wardrobe at this time.
Number Thirteen: He Is an ENA Graduate. In case you didn’t know, the ENA is like a national school of administration that teaches politicians and civil servants how to govern effectively. It is incredibly difficult to get into, and it is comparable to Harvard Business School in the United States.
Number Twelve: He Likes Burgers. France is one of the largest McDonald’s markets in the world, and Hollande has fallen prey to the Big Mac on quite a few occasions.
Number Eleven: He Was Congratulated by Admiral General Aladeen. And he is the only world leader thus far to have been awarded this high honor. Admiral General Aladeen is, of course, Sacha Baron Cohen’s character in The Dictator. Aladeen said, “Congratulations to the new president, Francois Hollandaise, on your victory over a midget.”
Number Ten: He Has an Interesting Culinary Nickname. When Hollande was working as the secretary of the Socialist Party, he earned the nickname of “pizza delivery boy” because he used to come to work on a three-wheeled scooter. He has also been nicknamed “Mr. Normal” and “nice guy.”
Number Nine: He Can Crack a Joke. All throughout Hollande’s campaign, he never stopped poking fun at both the political state of France and his opponents, including Sarkozy. After he defeated Sarkozy by winning 94 percent of the vote in a Socialist primary, he said, “Even on the darkest days of certain dictatorships they didn’t get numbers like that…” Good one, Mr. Hollande.