Months into media firestorm, French first lady admits she flubbed with tweet seen as a dig

PARIS – France's first lady says she regrets a tweet that was read by many as a dig against the mother of President Francois Hollande's four children.

Valerie Trierweiler (Tree-yer-wy-LUHR) told regional daily Ouest-France in an interview published Wednesday that the tweet was a "mistake."

During France's legislative election in June, she wrote words of encouragement on Twitter to a Socialist who was running against Segolene Royal — Hollande's former partner — to represent a western region. Many interpreted that as an attack on Royal, who ended up losing.

Trierweiler took the offending comment off her Twitter page weeks ago, but the fallout lives on. A new poll released Wednesday suggests most French don't have a good opinion of her. Hollande's popularity rating has been sliding in recent months.