Cécilia Attias
| Cécilia Attias | |
|---|---|
Cécilia Attias in 2016
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|
| Born |
Cécilia María Sara Isabel Ciganer-Albéniz 12 November 1957 Boulogne-Billancourt, France |
| Nationality | French |
| Other names | Cécilia Martin Cécilia Sarkozy |
| Known for | Marriage to the French President |
| Spouse(s) |
Jacques Martin (1984–1989) Nicolas Sarkozy (1996–2007) Richard Attias (2008–present) |
| Children | Judith Martin Jeanne-Marie Martin Louis Sarkozy |
Cécilia María Sara Isabel Attias (née Ciganer-Albéniz, previously Martin and Sarkozy) (born 12 November 1957) was the second spouse of French President Nicolas Sarkozy until October 2007.
Cecilia Attias was born Cécilia María Sara Isabel Ciganer-Albéniz. Her elderly father, André Ciganer (born Aron Chouganov), was a Moldovan immigrant born in Bălţi, Bessarabia in 1898 of Russian Jewish and Moldovan Romani lineage. He left home at the age of 13, just before the First World War. Ciganer moved to Paris, where he became a furrier. In 1937 he married Spanish-Belgian Diane Albéniz de Swert, a daughter of Alfonso Albéniz Jordana, a Spanish diplomat who played with Real Madrid in the early 1900s. Her maternal great-grandfather was the Spanish composer Isaac Albéniz.
Cécilia Sarkozy Attias has three older brothers:
Born with a heart defect, she suffered from cardiac problems which hampered her growth. She underwent open cardiac surgery when she was 13, and she made up quickly for her growth delay. She stands 1.78 m (5' 10") tall.
She studied piano (first prize in piano at Conservatoire), and obtained a baccalauréat B, after studying for 13 years in a French religious institution, Sœurs de Lübeck. She enrolled at Panthéon-Assas University for law studies but abandoned them and went on to become a parliamentary assistant to René Touzet. She also was a fitting model for Schiaparelli, the French fashion house, and worked for a public-relations company.
When her husband was a minister, Cécilia Sarkozy had an office next to his, serving as his close adviser. In 2002, she was appointed to the Office of the Ministry of the Interior. In 2005 she was appointed Chief of Staff for the UMP Party.
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