'Shattered' Carla Bruni stops breast-feeding baby

London, May 1 (ANI): Carla Bruni is under so much stress due to the pressure of the French presidential election that she has stopped breast-feeding her baby daughter, a France's magazine has claimed.

Accoeding to the country's Closer magazine, the angst-ridden First Lady is suffering from a 'real psychological shock' at the brutality of the insults levelled at her husband during his campaign, the Daily Mail reported.

The former supermodel is 'crying frequently' and 'lashing out at friends' as the intense battle for the Elysee Palace reaches its final week, the magazine said.

"Her easy-going nature of 2009 has gone. Today even her sleep is disturbed, which is forcing her to take better care of herself and as a result to stop breast-feeding little Guilia, which she wanted to do until she was eight months old.

"She is living through the worst moments of her time as First Lady, not just because she doesn't know what will happen on May 6, but also because she can't stand the violence of the election campaign," it added.

The magazine said friends of Bruni had revealed her 'frail and nervous' state as this Sunday's election day looms, with Sarkozy trailing in the polls.

"The violent verbal attacks her husband is being subjected too seem to be a real psychological shock for the First lady. Unused to the dealings of the political world, Carla has discovered the unprecedented brutality that he is the target of," the magazine said.

"And she is reacting like she has been skinned alive, devastated by the smallest insult or criticism of her president husband.

"Despite four years of marriage to Nicolas Sarkozy in the highest echelons of power, Carla is ultimately not prepared for these attacks, which she is reacting to like they are aimed at her personally.

"While she should have been resting with her daughter Guilia and her mother and sister, instead she joined him on the campaign trail.

"Her husband even confided on April 22, 'I told her to rest, but she does not want to stop'.

"Her anxiety is such that she cries frequently, and loses her temper even with those closest to her. Her family also is worried at seeing Carla so beaten down by the effects of the campaign," it added.

In an interview in March Bruni had said that all she wanted to be was 'an asset' to her husband as he campaigned to be elected for another five-year term.

She also expressed her own fears that her husband's '20-hour working days' and 'unimaginable sense of duty' could eventually kill him. (ANI)