The French First lady said "she wanted to weather the storm with him in the fashion of Hillary Clinton during the Monica Lewinsky scandal."

... when Valerie Trierweiler first heard about President François Hollande’s secret affair the young actress Julie Gayet.

But then she changed her mind. The First Lady is now "in negotiations, including legal ones" to end her relationship with Hollande, but she will not be getting a divorce. Do you know why?

They're not married!

She wants something "dignified and elegant" and, especially, that Gayet not move instantly into the palace.

Things are different in France. The building housing the President is called a "palace." We have to call the President's house — even including all the office space — a "house." And you can be called "First Lady" without being married to the President. I can't even imagine someone getting elected President in the United States and bringing along an unmarried sexual partner, let alone acceptance of calling this person "First Lady" (or "First Gentleman").

And, of course, we did (and do) — most of us/many of us — seem to admire Hillary Clinton for standing by her husband, even at the cost of muddling all those feminist principles — e.g., getting it about sexual harassment in the workplace — that she might have wanted to look as though she embodied. 

What's more admirable, staying or leaving? I'd say it depends on the context, but if you're not even married in the first place....

ADDED:  My phrase "we did (and do) — most of us/many of us" does not mean that I'm in the many. When Bob Dylan sang "There are many here among us, who feel that life is but a joke," did that mean that the character speaking that line was saying that he felt life was only a joke? Clearly not.

Also, I called Gayet young, but I see she's 41. Trierweiler is 48. And Holland is 59. A triad of oldish French people. Leaving someone who's 48 for someone who's 41 doesn't really raise much of a left her for a younger woman plaint. Not in my book.