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Europe
French President Hollande’s barber: €100K+ salary, secrecy agreement, 24/7 service
2016-07-17
The barber who tends to French President François Hollande’s hair earns a monthly net income of €9,895, a French newspaper revealed Wednesday, adding that the hairdresser is also committed to secrecy and needs to be available 24/7.

Identified only as Olivier B., the president’s hairdresser started on his five-year contract when Hollande took office in 2012. The contract also includes perks including financial aid with housing “and other family-related advantages”, weekly satirical newspaper Le Canard Enchainé said, citing his lawyer Sarah Levy.

But the job requires full commitment, the lawyer said in the article published on Wednesday, meaning the hairdresser needs to be “available for the president 24/7”, and is sworn to secrecy regarding any information he may learn while on the job.

“He missed the birth of his children,” the lawyer said, adding he had to sell off his own salon at a discounted price because of his busy schedule.

According to the newspaper, the Elysée palace has “fully” confirmed the information, saying the hairdresser looks after Hollande’s hair “every morning and as many times as is necessary, [and] ahead of every speech”. He also travels with the French leader on most trips that last longer than a day.

The news of the hairdresser’s salary and working conditions quickly caused a buzz in French media and on social networks, poking fun at the president’s hair under the hashtag #coiffeurgate (hairdressergate).

In March, Vanity Fair made a similar revelation, reporting that former president Nicolas Sarkozy’s makeup artist earned a net income of around €8,000 a month.
Posted by:Pappy

#5  In the tradition of Le Roi Soliel, Louis XIV.
Posted by: Abu Uluque   2016-07-17 14:35  

#4  I don't begrudge our vacationer in chief his vacations - it keeps him from doing his perceived job of destroying America. Much cheaper then having him devise things like ObumbleCare.
Posted by: CrazyFool   2016-07-17 12:02  

#3  Yes, a dreadful optique, but please give poor Oliver a break. Hollande’s excesses can't even approach the waste, fraud, and abuse of our globetrotting vacationer in chief.
Posted by: Besoeker   2016-07-17 11:19  

#2  ...under capitalism, the rich become powerful, under socialism the powerful become rich.

“The creatures outside looked from pig to man, and from man to pig, and from pig to man again; but already it was impossible to say which was which.”
― George Orwell, Animal Farm
Posted by: Procopius2k   2016-07-17 09:20  

#1  How does a guy who's half bald run up this kind of tab with a fucking barber?
Posted by: Raj   2016-07-17 01:19  

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