Dominique Strauss-Kahn and wife separate, reports say

July 31, 2016

By Luke Browne

Former IMF leader Dominique Strauss-Kahn and his wife Anne Sinclair wave from the courtyard upon their arrival in their Paris home. Sinclair was voted Woman of the Year in an online magazine’s poll.
Miguel Medina

LONDON, UK – Dominique Strauss-Kahn, the disgraced former boss of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), has separated from his wife, the wealthy heiress and journalist Anne Sinclair, according to news reports.

The editor of the celebrity magazine Closer, which published an online article late Thursday claiming that the couple had split, told The New York Times that Sinclair had thrown Strauss-Kahn out of their Paris apartment a month ago, and that the one-time French presidential hopeful had moved into a friend’s home in the capital.

A source also confirmed the separation to Reuters news agency. Sinclair recently rebooted her media career as an editor at the French edition of the Huffington Post, and the news follows weeks of speculation that the relationship was falling apart, with Strauss-Kahn reportedly depressed at his own poor career prospects:

"He's in a bad way. It's very sad," a person who knows Strauss-Kahn told the news agency earlier this month. "He's mostly just at home on his own while Anne is out and about with her new job. He's shunned by everybody."

On Friday Strauss-Kahn’s lawyers issued a statement announcing that he and Sinclair would sue Closer for invasion of privacy over the story, but neither confirmed nor denied whether the separation reports were true, the Agence France Presse reported.

"Having taken note of the cover and content of celebrity magazine Closer, Dominique Strauss-Kahn and Anne Sinclair have decided to sue this publication for invasion of privacy," they said.

A former French finance minister, Strauss-Kahn’s political ambitions came crashing down after New York hotel maid Nafissatou Diallo accused him of forcing her to have sex with him in his Manhattan hotel room in May 2011, leading him to quit his post at the IMF.

Subsequent concerns about Diallo’s credibility saw prosecutors drop the charges, and the maid then pursued Strauss-Kahn for undisclosed damages through a civil claim.

Accusations over Strauss-Kahn’s sexual conduct have continued to dog him since he returned to France following the dismissal of Diallo’s criminal case. In March French authorities placed him under formal investigation in connection with a vice ring in the northern city of Lille.