France’s new first lady Carla Bruni was forced to issue a public apology on Wednesday after she compared a magazine that attacked President Nicolas Sarkozy to the wartime pro-Nazi press.

In her debut interview published on Wednesday, Bruni rounded on the Nouvel Observateur for an online article reporting that the president text-messaged his ex-wife offering to call off his wedding to Bruni.

“The Nouvel Observateur has joined the ranks of the gossip press. If this kind of site had existed during the war, what would have happened with the denunciation of the Jews?” Bruni said in the interview with L’Express magazine.

Following a complaint from the Nouvel Observateur — which is being sued by Sarkozy, but insists its stands by its story — L’Express printed an apology from the first lady on its website.

“I wrongly compared the methods used by websites to those of the collaborationist press. If I offended anyone, I am extremely sorry,” Bruni said.

“I just wanted to say how much I dislike these personal attacks, which cheapen information. And the potential danger that they represent.”

The Nouvel Observateur’s managing editor Michel Labro had responded angrily on the Rue89 website: “You do not play with that kind of statement,” he said, calling Bruni’s analysis “mindblowing, pretty incredible and pathetic”, “quite idiotic”.

Sarkozy filed a lawsuit against the Nouvel Observateur last week after the affiliated website nouvelobs.com reported he had messaged his ex-wife Cecilia, who he divorced in October, saying: “If you come back, I’ll call it all off.”