Bernadette Chirac

Bernadette Chirac

Bernadette Thérèse Marie Chirac (born Bernadette Thérèse Marie Chodron de Courcel on 18 May 1933) is a French politician and the wife of the former President Jacques Chirac.

She and Chirac met while both students at the Paris Institute of Political Studies (better known as Sciences Po), and were married in France on 16 March 1956. They have two children: Laurence and Claude Chirac, and a Vietnamese foster-daughter, Anh Đào Traxel.

Since 2001, Bernadette has been a leading member of the "Pièces Jaunes," a charity that aids children in French hospitals by collecting small change.

She has also helped her husband being elected in 1995 and is herself an elected official in Corrèze, the couple's home département.

Read more about Bernadette Chirac:  Controversies, Honours, Bibliography, Sources