France’s first lady Carla Bruni spoke openly about her pregnancy for the first time in a newspaper interview — but kept the baby’s gender a secret. Rumours have swirled for months, starting with a story in gossip magazine Closer in April and followed by near-obsessive coverage of Bruni’s baby bump, but Friday’s interview with regional daily Nice Matin was the first official confirmation the presidential couple are expecting their first child. Bruni is said to be due to give birth in the autumn, around the time President Nicolas Sarkozy is expected to announce he will run for a second term in next year’s election. Bruni, a singer-songwriter and former model, declined to say whether her baby was a boy or a girl. “There are some things that one has to keep secret,” she said. Asked why she had been so discreet, Bruni, 43, said: “First in order to protect myself, to avoid having to expose my personal life. It’s a great joy for me, but one that is fairly banal after all.” “People have other problems and it would be out of place to talk about it too much,” she added. Photographed by Nice Matin, Bruni appears relaxed and maternal in a flowing pink gown, lounging on a floral-patterned sofa and strolling through the gardens of Fort de Bregancon, the president’s retreat in the south of France. Reuters Life!