Carla Bruni Shocked Michelle Obama with Sex Talk, Says New Book

French first lady Carla Bruni shocked Michelle Obama by trying to compare notes on their sex lives, Jonathan Alter reports in "The Promise: President Obama, Year One." Bruni, the Italian wife of French President Nicholas Sarkozy, "delighted in telling friends that she shocked Michelle Obama at their first meeting" by informing her that "the press of state business prevented her husband from making love to her as much as she would like," Alter writes.

He also says of Bruni that "in her telling, they once kept another foreign leader waiting while they finished having sex. Bruni wanted to know if, like the Sarkozys, Michelle and the president had ever kept anyone waiting that way." According to Alter, "Michelle laughed nervously and said no."

Alter describes Bruni as "a former model who released a CD in 2009 with songs about her 'thirty lovers.'" He says Obama had a "soft spot" for her husband, "whose considerable ego he took in stride."

"The Promise," the first of several upcoming books about the Obama presidency, is scheduled for publication May 18.