During an interview on the show 60 Minutes broadcast on Sunday, Mr Sarkozy sparred with CBS correspondent Lesley Stahl and ended the conversation abruptly when asked about the state of his marriage.

The Sarkozys' divorce was announced about two weeks after the programme was filmed.

'It seems that every day we're hearing another story about your wife. What's going on?' Ms Stahl is said to have asked.

'If I had something to say about Cecilia, I would certainly not do so here,' said a clearly disturbed Mr Sarkozy. He is known to be particularly prickly about questions on his personal life.

He also called his own press secretary an idiot during the recording of the programme.

According to the CBS website, as the 60 Minutes team was setting up for an interview at the Elysee Palace, Mr Sarkozy started berating his press secretary, calling him 'an imbecile' and worse, for arranging an interview that he did not want to do on a busy day.

'No. No. This is stupid. He is stupid. It is a big mistake,' he was said to have told Ms Stahl.

During other, less tempestuous, parts of the show, he expressed his admiration for both the US work ethic and its pop music.

Asked about his father's fears years ago that anyone with a Hungarian last name like Sarkozy could not succeed in France, he said one thing he admired about the US democracy was its openness and opportunities to all kinds of people. 'You can be called Schwarzenegger and be governor of California,' he said.

REUTERS, AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE