London, Nov 30: Moved by the tragic death of her
brother from AIDS, the glamorous French first lady, Carla
Bruni-Sarkozy, is ready to don a new avatar as an ambassador
in the global fight against the deadly disease.
Bruni, who married President Nicolas Sarkozy in February,
is expected to be appointed an "ambassador" for the Global
Fund to Fight Aids, Tuberculosis and Malaria, a Geneva-based
organisation backed by the United Nations, tomorrow on World
Aids Day.
The 40-year-old supermodel-turned-singer had for long
been trying to decide what cause to embrace as first lady, and
the choice of AIDS appears to have been influenced by a family
tragedy that occurred in 2006, when Virginio, her brother,
with whom she had a close relationship, died after a long
battle with the illness, Sunday Times reported.
Her latest album features a song called 'Hi, Sailor',
which has been described as a farewell to Virginio, an artist
and passionate yachtsman, who had frequently crossed the
Atlantic single-handed.
His death devastated the family: Carla has spoken of the
"emptiness" it caused, and in 2007 Marisa, her mother, set up
the Virginio Bruni Tedeschi Foundation in his memory. Backed
by UNESCO, it is dedicated to fighting AIDS.
Bureau Report
First Published: Sunday, November 30, 2008, 00:00