“The family is the most protective of bubbles,” he declared in the latest issue of
Paris Match
, published this Thursday, February 22.
Gérald Darmanin, who is on the cover of the magazine, spoke about Rose-Marie Devillers, his wife and pillar.
Usually discreet, the latter agreed to appear alongside her husband and their children Max-Émilien, 2 years old, and Alec, 1 year old, in the pages of the weekly.
Without taking up all the light.
The wife of the Minister of the Interior has indeed one watchword: preserve her private life.
In fact, the thirty-year-old does not have an official Twitter account or Instagram page.
His public appearances can be counted on the fingers of one hand.
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“I can’t imagine my life without her”
An intimacy that Gérald Darmanin jealously protects.
“My wife is my private life, she will give her opinion if you invite her”, he answers a question from Jean-Michel Apathy in “Quotidien”, in October 2023. Behind the scenes, this “
gentle
and calm ” partner
", neither "impressed by the gold of the Republic" nor "by the political world that she knows well", as he describes her in
Gala
,
would be her beacon in the storm.
Despite declining popularity – he garnered 39% favorable opinions in an Ifop survey, unveiled on Tuesday February 20 – the politician can count on the support of this family which he describes as “united, gentle and solid".
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“So yes, it helps incredibly to hold on, even if, believe me, I know that we do not own our position, we are only passing through,” he nuances in Paris
Match
.
Asked about the role that his wife Rose Marie Devillers plays at his side, the Minister of the Interior praises their unwavering complicity.
“She knows me best,” he enthuses.
Between us, discussions are frank, we are both discreet and close-knit.”
Before adding: “Despite the constraints of political life, we cannot do without each other.
I can’t imagine my life without her, without our family.”
Their children often roam the corridors of Beauvau.
“Prettier than Carla Bruni”
Rose-Marie Devillers and Gérald Darmanin arrive at a dinner organized at the Louvre.
(Paris, July 14, 2023.) AFP Forum
This unfailing discretion did not, however, prevent the Minister of the Interior from discussing his wife on television sets – sometimes even with humor.
Guest on the show “Face à Baba”, in October 2023, he was questioned about his proximity to Nicolas Sarkozy, and described as a “clone” of the latter.
He then jokes: “First of all, my wife is prettier than Carla Bruni.”
Not without adding: “Even if I really like Carla Bruni.”
With a reserved temperament, Rose Marie Devillers, for her part, has nothing to do with the spotlight.
An authenticity which she would have once again demonstrated on the day of her wedding, celebrated on August 29, 2020 in Tourcoing, by swapping “her pumps for her pair of Stan Smiths” once the ceremony was over.
Media storms
Their union, however, took place in a stormy context.
Together since 2009 - the date when Michel Bettan, executive vice-president of Havas Paris, is said to have introduced them to each other - Gérald Darmanin and Rose-Marie Devillers have experienced their share of media storms.
In May 2017, a person named Sophie Patterson-Spatz requested the resignation of Gérald Darmanin.
She accuses the latter of having raped her, after she contacted him in 2009 to try to overturn a conviction dated 2004.
For his part, Gérald Darmanin does not deny the existence of this sexual relationship, nor even the sending of a letter to the Minister of Justice in favor of Sophie Patterson-Spatz or their exchange of text messages.
However, he denies having raped her.
The complaint was dismissed in July 2017. In January 2018, she filed a complaint a second time, for rape, sexual harassment and breach of trust.
Without success.
Once the third complaint has been filed, an investigating judge issues a dismissal order.
Sophie Patterson-Platz then appealed this decision, but suffered another disappointment, the Court of Appeal ruling that her request was out of time.
In November 2019, the decision of the Court of Appeal was annulled by the Court of Cassation, due to a procedural flaw.
In June 2020, the Paris Court of Appeal thus requested the resumption of an investigation into accusations of rape, sexual harassment and breach of trust.
And this, two months before the wedding organized by Gérald Darmanin and Rose Marie Devillers.
Not to mention the accusations made by a resident of Tourcoing, who accuses him of having forced her to have sexual relations with him, in exchange for obtaining housing and a job in 2015. A complaint too dismissed.
In March 2018, Gérald Darmanin in turn filed a complaint against the latter, for “slanderous denunciation”.
Before withdrawing his complaint, in October 2018.
An “intimate” wedding
Rose-Marie Devillers appears with a rounded stomach during the parade on July 14, 2022. (Paris.) Abaca
However, Rose-Marie Devillers does not give in.
This thirty-year-old from Hauts de France remains silent.
And indeed celebrates his marriage, in a small group, as the politician announces on his Facebook account, during the summer of 2020. “I wanted it to be as intimate as possible in order to keep a part of secret garden necessary for every man and woman, he wrote at the time.
I know you will understand it.
I want to tell you how much the many expressions of affection from the people of Tourquennois have touched me.”
A few months later, in August 2021, the couple welcomed their first son Max-Emilien.
The following year, Rose Marie Devillers made a rare public appearance at the July 14 parade.
She then sports a rounded stomach.
On September 6, 2022, Gérald Darmanin announced the birth of their son Alec in an Instagram post, since deleted.
A prolific journey
At the same time, his wife continues to flourish in her career.
The 35-year-old mother has indeed had a very prolific career.
After studying law, she obtained two Masters degrees, in corporate and contract law, as well as in international law and management.
In 2013, she created her own firm specializing in consulting and management, in Lille.
Then worked for a time for the town hall of Tourcoing, within the press relations department of the mayor's office... Gérald Darmanin.
In 2017, she joined the Havas Paris group as a consultant.
Two years later, she became its director.
In 2023, however, Rose-Marie Devillers decides to take another path.
She thus resumed her studies and enrolled in a Master 2 in child development psychology, for which she spent many months at Necker hospital.
Her husband promises to “stop” his own career “after a while”.
“I have two little boys.
I hope to have others,” he confides to Pascal Praud.
And the politician sympathizes with his partner, on the set of “What a time!”
“I apologize for everything I put you through by playing politics and so I hope you still love me,” he declares, amused.
Minister of the Interior since 2020, Gérald Darmanin now holds the seventh longest mandate in the history of the Fifth Republic for a Minister of the Interior.