Michelle Obama, Carla Bruni-Sarkozy to Meet Monday for Lunch

First Lady Michelle Obama and her French counterpart Carla Bruni-Sarkozy -- two women who at times have been cast as fashion rivals -- will lunch together on Monday at the White House, Politics Daily has learned.

Bruni-Sarkozy, the wife of French President Nicolas Sarkozy but a native of Italy, is a former model, singer and actress (she appears in an upcoming Woody Allen film). She is more outspoken than Mrs. Obama, but both share a love of fashion.

The two first ladies have met several times before. In September, there was a flap over whether Bruni-Sarkozy repeated an alleged private conversation she had with Mrs. Obama at the White House -- the upshot being that Mrs. Obama never said her life was "hell" in the White House, as some media outlets reported. (The French Embassy and Mrs. Obama's office both issued denials.) The two women get along well.

The first ladies will dine on the day Sarkozy's husband is meeting with President Obama at the White House. Nicolas Sarkozy takes office this year as the new president of the G20 and G8. The White House said that the Obama/Sarkozy meeting is to discuss the global economic recovery and job creation, as well as foreign policy.