French first lady Carla Bruni-Sarkozy said Tuesday she had witnessed first-hand the toll that AIDS took on the fashion industry in the 1980s and spoke about her brother's death from the disease.
"I have witnessed the damage that HIV has caused for humanity for some 20 years now," said Bruni-Sarkozy in an interview to TV5Monde television on World AIDS Day.
Recounting her years as a supermodel, Bruni-Sarkozy said "the fashion world was hit head-on by the AIDS pandemic. It really did lose members of its family."
"The fashion industry became aware about this disease very, very early on, because it was a victim of it," she added.
Bruni-Sarkozy, who lost her brother Virginio to AIDS in 2006, last year became an ambassador for the Geneva-based Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria.
The supermodel-turned-singer has called for greater access to AIDS-fighting drugs to eliminate mother-to-child HIV transmission in poor countries by 2015.
"I am personally very sensitive about this issue," she said in the interview.
But the wife of President Nicolas Sarkozy stressed that her decision to join the global AIDS campaign was not directly linked to her brother's death.
"My brother unfortunately contracted HIV and he died from it," she said.
"But my role with the Global Fund is really not linked to my brother's situation.
"My brother was lucky to live in France, to be treated in France, to have access to care, have access to the best hospitals.
"I am now a spokeswoman for people who have access to nothing."
Since becoming AIDS ambassador, the 41-year Bruni-Sarkozy has travelled to Burkina Faso and visited an AIDS orphanage in Mexico.
The Elysee presidential palace for the first time displayed two large red ribbons on its columns Tuesday to mark World AIDS Day, supporting a cause dear to the first lady.
In another show of French solidarity with people living with HIV and AIDS, the lights were to be switched off for five minutes at the Eiffel Tower at 6:30 pm (1730 GMT).
The Empire State Building and the Brooklyn bridge in New York will also go dark at the same time as part of the "Light for Rights" campaign for more access to AIDS drugs.
Source: AFP
"I have witnessed the damage that HIV has caused for humanity for some 20 years now," said Bruni-Sarkozy in an interview to TV5Monde television on World AIDS Day.
Recounting her years as a supermodel, Bruni-Sarkozy said "the fashion world was hit head-on by the AIDS pandemic. It really did lose members of its family."
"The fashion industry became aware about this disease very, very early on, because it was a victim of it," she added.
Bruni-Sarkozy, who lost her brother Virginio to AIDS in 2006, last year became an ambassador for the Geneva-based Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria.
The supermodel-turned-singer has called for greater access to AIDS-fighting drugs to eliminate mother-to-child HIV transmission in poor countries by 2015.
"I am personally very sensitive about this issue," she said in the interview.
But the wife of President Nicolas Sarkozy stressed that her decision to join the global AIDS campaign was not directly linked to her brother's death.
"My brother unfortunately contracted HIV and he died from it," she said.
"But my role with the Global Fund is really not linked to my brother's situation.
"My brother was lucky to live in France, to be treated in France, to have access to care, have access to the best hospitals.
"I am now a spokeswoman for people who have access to nothing."
Since becoming AIDS ambassador, the 41-year Bruni-Sarkozy has travelled to Burkina Faso and visited an AIDS orphanage in Mexico.
The Elysee presidential palace for the first time displayed two large red ribbons on its columns Tuesday to mark World AIDS Day, supporting a cause dear to the first lady.
In another show of French solidarity with people living with HIV and AIDS, the lights were to be switched off for five minutes at the Eiffel Tower at 6:30 pm (1730 GMT).
The Empire State Building and the Brooklyn bridge in New York will also go dark at the same time as part of the "Light for Rights" campaign for more access to AIDS drugs.
Source: AFP
The French First Lady - who is married to French President Nicolas Sarkozy - has accepted Woody's offer to appear in his as-yet untitled project, but admits she could be "completely useless".
Carla, 41, was first approached by Woody, 73, last year after he met her and told her she was "wonderful" and gushed he would love to have the supermodel-turned-singer in one of his movies.
Carla - who married Sarkozy two months after meeting him at a dinner party in Paris - said: "He suggested I appear in his next film. I don't know what the role is but I said yes. I go into everything blindly or I'd never do anything at all.
"I'm not an actress at all. Perhaps I'll be completely hopeless but I can't miss an opportunity like this one. When I'm a grandmother I'd like to be able to say I made a film with Woody Allen."
Carla - whose acting experience so far consists of only a few brief film appearances - was seen in an episode of 'The Simpsons' last week in the US where she was portrayed as a sex-mad femme fatale.
Carla, 41, was first approached by Woody, 73, last year after he met her and told her she was "wonderful" and gushed he would love to have the supermodel-turned-singer in one of his movies.
Carla - who married Sarkozy two months after meeting him at a dinner party in Paris - said: "He suggested I appear in his next film. I don't know what the role is but I said yes. I go into everything blindly or I'd never do anything at all.
"I'm not an actress at all. Perhaps I'll be completely hopeless but I can't miss an opportunity like this one. When I'm a grandmother I'd like to be able to say I made a film with Woody Allen."
Carla - whose acting experience so far consists of only a few brief film appearances - was seen in an episode of 'The Simpsons' last week in the US where she was portrayed as a sex-mad femme fatale.
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