MONTBAZON (AFP) – The scooter at the centre of a headline-grabbing love affair between then-French president François Hollande and his actress lover Julie Gayet sold for EUR20,500 at an auction in France on Sunday.
A huge scandal erupted in 2014 when French glossy magazine Closer said Hollande, who then lived with his partner Valerie Trierweiler, routinely hopped on a scooter to spend the night with his 41-year-old mistress, publishing pictures of the three-wheeler.
Hollande went on to marry Gayet in 2022, and on Sunday, France’s most famous scooter was auctioned off at a château in the town of Montbazon in western France, according to an AFP correspondent.
The auction, which was organised by the Rouillac auction house and attended by around 40 people, lasted just 10 minutes.
The grey Piaggio MP3 125 was purchased by Denis Breheret, owner of a car museum.
Breheret wants to exhibit the scooter at his museum in the town of Jallais so that “everyone can enjoy it”.
