Carla Bruni speaks out on therapy

Carla Bruni has been France's First Lady since February 2008

Carla Bruni-Sarkozy, the wife of French President Nicolas Sarkozy, has given details of her psychoanalysis in a television documentary.

The 41-year-old former supermodel says she began the therapy after her father died when she was 28.

She adds that she refuses to lie down on the couch as it feels "artificial".

The documentary, entitled La Premiere Seance (The First Session), features celebrities who talk about their initial encounter with psychoanalysis.

"I had a life that was totally about action, completely outside of psychoanalysis until the age of 28," Mrs Bruni-Sarkozy told interviewers.

But she said the shock of her father's death had prompted her to engage in therapy "body and soul".

Initially the exercise was unexciting, she said, but when she switched to her current analyst "the first session was incandescent".

She added that lying down on a couch felt like a "masquerade".

"For the last two years I've been face to face with my analyst. This more civilised situation helps me speak more freely."

The documentary is to be broadcast on state channel France 3 on 7 November.

Mrs Bruni-Sarkozy married the twice-divorced French president last year after a brief romance.