Nicola Sturgeon mocks online gossip about affair with French diplomat

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Former SNP leader Nicola Sturgeon laughed off online rumors of an affair with a female French diplomat, but said the need to seek more intimacy was "part of the reason" for her resignation.

Among the claims she dismissed in the podcast were that she was a "secret lesbian" and that she had a extramarital affair with a French diplomat, with the couple buying a house from Andy Murray's mother, Judy, as a love nest.

Asked by BBC's Glenn Campbell: "Which French diplomat did you you having an affair?" Ms. Sturgeon laughed and replied, "I'll tell you off camera which one he's supposed to be, but whoever he is, we really laughed about it."

L former minister told a new BBC Scotland podcast that online gossip about her had been 'part of the reason' behind the decision.

She said: 'I'm not not naive i am not of the opinion that i will ever retire and be completely anonymous the next i understand the realities of what i have done and i will still be in parliament but i want to have a bit more privacy."

"I want to have a little more anonymity and just want to protect some of what people take for granted in their lives that I forgot to have."

Other rumors spread about Ms. Sturgeon saying she had a global real estate portfolio and had a super injunction in place to hide the truth.

“J 'read stories of my life on social media and I was like, 'You know, this is so much more glamorous and so much more exciting,'” she said.

L he former Scottish Prime Minister surprisingly resigned as leader of the party in February, citing the funeral of independence activist Allan Angus as the moment that cemented his decision.

Replaced as Prime Minister this week by Humza Yousaf, Ms Sturgeon said the contest had been "somewhat choppy" and the party was experiencing "growing pains".

Mr. Yousaf had to defend her decision to include an independence minister in her new government team - criticized for having a 'taxpayer-funded nationalist campaigner' in the new ministerial role.

Her biggest rival close friend Kate Forbes has refused to join his cabinet - rejecting a major downgrade from finance secretary to rural affairs secretary.

And a former minister turned rebel from the SNP has called for an end to the deal of power-sharing between the SNP and the Greens, calling the left-wing party partners "wine bar pseudo-intellectuals".

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