Know Julie Gayet embroiled in a messy sex scandal with French president

New Delhi: The French President Francois Hollande is having an affair with actress Julie Gayet and photos to support the claim have emerged. The French magazine Closer published photos of Hollande arriving at Gayet's flat near the Elysee Palace, fuelling rumours that the 59-year-old president regularly spends the night with the actress. Hollande hasn't denied it, but is threatening to sue the magazine over what he calls a breach of privacy. So who is Julie Gayet?She's a native of the wealthy western Parisian suburb of Suresnes and began her career as an actress studying at the Actor's Studio in London at age 17. Gayet's father was a surgeon and teacher who asked her to put on little shows in his patients' rooms. She witnessed her first death at the age of seven. After training to be an opera singer she landed her first big role in 1994 in the French film "La Belle Etoile" and has mostly appeared in French film comedies and dramas. Her biggest success to date was in the comedy "Delphine 1 - Yvan 0". She has "a rock 'n' roll temperament and a very smooth approach", was how one colleague in the French film industry described her. But her career has never taken off to the point where she has achieved star status or has become a name in the world of French arthouse cinema. The actress has two children with her estranged husband Santiago Amigorena, an Argentine-born director and writer. She has never hidden her support for the political Left in France and even appeared in a promo video for François Hollande's presidential election campaign. After rumours of her affair with Hollande appeared on the internet in 2013 she filed a formal complaint for infringement of personal privacy. At the time her lawyer made a statement saying there was no basis to the rumours. She says she does not have a career plan and goes from job to job and says she is not in acting for the money. Gayet won best actress at the Tokyo Film Festival in 2009 for her leading role in French film "8 Times Up". She has also lent her voice to animated films, including "Kerity La Maison des Contes" in 2009. In one of her recent films "Quai d'Orsay", she played the role of a political advisor to the Interior Minister.