The live-in lover of French President Francois Hollande today infuriated the mother of his four children by backing her electoral rival for a place in Parliament.
Valerie Trierweiler, 47, has never made any secret of her dislike for Segolene Royal, the 58-year-old who shared Mr Hollande's life for more than 30 years.
Ms Royal was, in turn, devastated when Mr Hollande left her for Ms Trierweiler, a Paris Match magazine journalist, in 2007.
Now Ms Royal, herself a former Socialist government minister who stood for the presidency in 2007, is standing for a place in the National Assembly.
Ms Royal gained 32 percent of the vote in the first round of parliamentary elections on Sunday in the western constituency of La Rochelle, and hopes to win outright in the second round on Sunday.
But Olivier Falorni, a popular local Socialist politician in La Rochelle, is standing against her and achieved 29 percent of the vote last Sunday.
Everybody expected Mr Hollande to back Ms Royal, but today Ms Trierweiler sparked outrage by using her Twitter account to post a message of support for Mr Falorni.
It reads: 'Good luck to Olivier Falorni who was not unworthy, who fights alongside the people of La Rochelle for so many years with selfless commitment.'
Such a message, from the serving first lady of France, could easily swing the election against Ms Royal and effectively end her political career.
'It's a devastating blow for Segolene, and she's infuriated by what has happened,' said a Socialist Party insider.
'The party has been plagued by in-fighting for many years, but Segelone never expected the President's new lover to make such a provocative gesture.'
Asked by reporters, if she was indeed supporting Mr Falorni, Ms Trierweiler simply sent them a text reading: 'Yes'.
A senior Elysee Palace presidential aide meanwhile told Le Monde newspaper: 'I am completely blown away. I expected a government crisis, not a domestic one. It's amazing.'
Ms Royal had no initial comment, but critics said it was another example of Ms Trierweiler abusing her new position at the heart of the French Republic to make mischief.
One of many angry messages which Ms Trierweiler received back on Twitter was from Royal supporter Serge Pastor and reads: 'I did not think that female jealousy went that far.'
(Read by Nelly Min. Nelly Min is a journalist at the China Daily Website.)
双语资讯
(Agencies)
法国总统弗朗索瓦-奥朗德的同居女友瓦莱丽近日公开表态支持他的前女友罗雅尔的国民议会竞选对手，这使罗雅尔十分愤怒。奥朗德和罗雅尔育有四名子女。
47岁的瓦莱丽-特里埃维勒从未掩饰过对塞格莱娜•罗雅尔的厌恶。58岁的罗雅尔曾与奥朗德共同生活过三十多年。
2007年，奥朗德离开罗雅尔，与瓦莱丽开始交往时，罗雅尔也一度身心崩溃。瓦莱丽是《巴黎竞赛画报》的记者。
如今，曾经在2007年成为社会党总统候选人的罗雅尔正竞选国民大会的一席。罗雅尔还曾在社会党政府中担任过部长。
上周日，在法国西部拉罗谢尔选区的首轮国会投票中，罗雅尔获得了32%的选票。她希望在本周日的第二轮投票中直接胜出。
但该选区很受欢迎的社会党政治人士奥利维尔-法洛尔尼成为她的竞争对手，并在上周日的选举中获得29%的选票。
所有人都认为奥朗德会支持罗雅尔，但今天瓦莱丽却发表推文支持法洛尔尼，表达了自己的愤怒。
上面写道：“法洛尔尼加油，他没做错任何事。他和拉罗谢尔的民众共同奋斗多年，一直无私奉献。”
法国“第一女友”发出这样的消息，很可能使罗雅尔败选，并在实际上终结她的政治生涯。
社会党一位内部人士说：“这对罗雅尔来说是致命一击，她被瓦莱丽的所作所为激怒了。”
“社会党已经被内斗困扰多年，但罗雅尔从不认为奥朗德的新欢会做出这样气人的举动。”
在被记者问及是否真心支持法洛尔尼时，瓦莱丽简单地回复短信道：“是的。”
爱丽舍宫的一位总统高级助理还告诉法国《世界报》：“这太让我震惊了，我想到过政府危机，但从没想到过会后宫起火。真让人吃惊。”
罗雅尔对此没有表态，但批评家认为，这是瓦莱丽滥用处于法国核心的新地位来挑拨离间的最近例子。
瓦莱丽在推特上也收到了很多愤怒的回复，其中一条来自罗雅尔的支持者塞基-帕斯特，写道：“我从没想过女人的嫉妒会如此过分。”