Francois Hollande: All the president's women

In this pre-election photo from 2011, Ms Gayet can be glimpsed in the background

French President Francois Hollandehas admitted to a "difficult moment"after a magazine's claims that he is having an affair with a 41-year-old actress.

Here BBC News profiles the women in - or alleged to be in - the life of the man at the helm of the EU's second-biggest economy.

Julie Gayet

Mr Hollande has hit out at what he describes as an invasion of privacy, but has not denied a report that he is having a relationship with the actress Julie Gayet, a mother of two, a mother of two, behind the back of his official partner, Valerie Trierweiler.

French gossip magazine Closer has published claims of an affair going back two years, which would pre-date his election as president in May 2012.

They allegedly snatched weekends together in the south of France, and Mr Hollande is said to have made excuses to avoid a holiday in Greece last year with Ms Trierweiler, so he could travel instead to his Correze constituency with Ms Gayet.

The 41-year-old is fairly well known in France, if not internationally, and once appeared in one of Mr Hollande's election campaign television adverts.

Julie Gayet is a well-known actress in France, and a mother of two

In that video (in French), she described him as "a humble man," who "really listens".

Rumours of their alleged relationship have been circulating on the internet for many months. Ms Gayet filed a complaint with prosecutors in Paris in March 2013 against various bloggers and websites that were reporting on the rumours.

She is suing Closer over the original photo report it published on 10 January about the alleged affair.

Ms Gayet played a leading role in Quai d'Orsay, a 2013 satirical film centred on the French foreign ministry. Her filmography also includes the titles Shall We Kiss? and My Best Friend among dozens of others.

She is the daughter of a wealthy surgeon and married the Argentine-born film director and scriptwriter Santiago Amigorena in 2003. The pair have since separated.

Valerie Trierweiler

The president's partner is the journalist Valerie Trierweiler, who accompanies him on official visits

The president's official partner was taken to hospital "for rest and some tests" following Closer's scoop. A friend wasquoted by French magazine Le Point as saying she had taken "one pill too many", but denied it was a suicide attempt.

After staying away for nearly a week, apparently at the doctors' request, Mr Hollande visited her in hospital on 16 January.

Ms Trierweiler, 48, is a journalist who writes for Paris Match magazine and has presented discussion programmes on French television. She moved in with Francois Hollande after his official separation from Segolene Royal in 2007, and was divorced from her own husband, with whom she has three children.