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DSK’s ex-wife Anne Sinclair says she didn’t know about husband’s affairs

The ex-wife of former International Monetary Fund head Dominique Strauss-Kahn whose career was beset by a series of sexual scandals, says she was unaware of his infamous extramarital affairs in her most in-depth interview ever on the subject

Journalist Anne Sinclair speaks for first time in depth about ex-husband's sex life.
Journalist Anne Sinclair speaks for first time in depth about ex-husband's sex life. REUTERS/Charles Platiau
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Three years after the onetime French presidential contender was arrested for an alleged rape in New York City, his ex-wife of 22 years, journalist Anne Sinclair has spoken in an exclusive interview with France TV set to air Tuesday night.

Formally one of France’s most widely known television news anchors and editorial director of French Huffington Post, Sinclair says that she’d only heard rumours about his notorious infidelity, but didn’t believe them, according to parts of the interview leaked to the French press.

“I had doubts, yes, doubts that every couple has,” Sinclair tells Laurent Delahousse of France TV in the interview, adding that she knew he was a "charmer" and a "seducer" from when she first met him.

“I would often, sometimes, go to him, and ask if things were true or not,” Sinclair says.

Sinclair left Strauss-Khan after he was forced to resign from the IMF and abandon hopes to run as a Socialist candidate in the 2012 presidential elections after charges of sexually assaulting a maid in New York City's Sofitel hotel surfaced in May 2011.

But, Sinclair says she never believed the claims of Nafissatou Diallo who said Strauss-Khan emerged naked from the bathroom of the hotel suite she was cleaning and forced her to perform sexual acts.

Three years later, Sinclair says that at times she asks herself if this story really happened.

"Did I really experience this or was it from a nightmare," Sinclair says. "Everything was violent, including the reactions of the press, and I'm not talking about the tabloids, contrary to what one might think."

Strauss-Khan said the act was consensual and has avoided criminal prosecution.

In August 2011, prosecutors dropped criminal charges and Strauss-Kahn quickly returned to France.

Diallo maintained a civil suit, which was later settled for an undisclosed sum estimated to be worth several million dollars.

However, he has been ordered to stand trial over allegations of his participation in a prostitution ring centred on the Carlton Hotel in Lille and also active in Paris and the US, according to prosecutors.

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