Hollande partner leaves Paris hospital

French President Francois Hollande’s partner has emerged from a week’s stay in hospital as the leader faced calls to clear up his personal life after his affair with an actress was made public.

Valerie Trierweiler left the Paris hospital, where she had been admitted on January 10 suffering from nervous exhaustion and low blood pressure, for a presidential residence in Versailles, a source in her office said on Saturday.

In her first public comments since the scandal over Hollande’s affair broke, Trierweiler tweeted her thanks to her supporters.

“Thank you from the bottom of my heart to all those who sent messages of support… very touched,” she wrote, using her personal and not her official Twitter account.

Concern had been mounting for Trierweiler, 48, after she fell ill after the revelation that Hollande, 59, had been having an affair with 41-year-old actress Julie Gayet.

The magazine Paris Match, Trierweiler’s employer, said Friday that her family was “worried” after her 16-year-old son Leonard was unable to visit and she did not take calls.

But he was reunited with his mother after she left hospital, tweeting, “finally with my mother! I am happy to be back with her”.

In a report Saturday the magazine said Trierweiler had seen “almost no one” during her stay at the Pitie-Salpetriere hospital.

Hollande, who did not visit Trierweiler in hospital until Thursday and has dodged questions regarding the couple’s future, was Saturday on a visit to his political stronghold of Correze in central France.

Hollande has said he will clarify his relationship with Trierweiler before a trip to Washington next month.

Muted public reaction

In a speech in the town of Tulle he again did not comment on the revelations, focusing instead on local issues.

But even longtime allies were saying the president needed to deal with the scandal.

“France’s political situation requires all of the president’s attention and all of his time, so obviously it would be best for everyone if he can resolve the problems in his personal life under good conditions,” said Tulle Mayor Bernard Combes, a member of Hollande’s Socialist party.

On previous trips to the region Hollande had regularly visited the Tulle market – often accompanied by Trierweiler – but he skipped it this time.

Reports have emerged that Hollande took Gayet to the Tulle market during his last visit to the region in July.

Closer magazine reported last week that Hollande had been having secret trysts with Gayet. The scandal overshadowed a major policy speech by Hollande vowing new economic reforms.

Hollande’s failure to visit his partner in hospital until Thursday fuelled speculation that he has decided to end the relationship with Trierweiler, for whom he left Segolene Royal, the mother of his four children, in 2005.

Hollande has not denied the magazine’s report and has ruled out any legal action on his own behalf.

French reaction to the scandal has been muted.

A poll by BVA for i-Tele released on Saturday showed 75 percent of respondents agreed that Hollande was right not to answer questions on his personal life, and 62 percent believed the affair was a private matter of no public concern.