France's first lady Valerie Trierweiler collapsed and was rushed to hospital after being told of President Francois Hollande’s secret trysts with an actress, it emerged last night.

Distraught Miss Trierweiler, 48, was admitted for treatment following the publication of photographs of the French leader sneaking in and out of his love-nest.

Last night she was still in hospital undergoing tests and was being ‘left to rest’, a spokesman said.

Sources said Miss Trierweiler was being treated for shock and exhaustion, while one newspaper said she was ‘very depressed’ by the revelations, which place her grand lifestyle under threat.

As first lady, Miss Trierweiler – who is not married to Mr Hollande – has enjoyed all the perks of a presidential wife with a retinue of staff and a generous budget.

But her place in the 59-year-old president’s affections appears to have been taken by Julie Gayet, a 41-year-old actress who has been conducting a secret affair with the Socialist head of state since last year. Mr Hollande, whose popularity was already at rock bottom as France teeters on the brink of economic crisis, has been urged to ‘clarify’ his love life.

An opinion poll yesterday showed the vast majority of French voters – 89 per cent – want him to separate from Miss Trierweiler, which would make her the first ‘premiere dame’ in history to be kicked out of the Elysee Palace.

It reflects mounting anger that the already unpopular Miss Trierweiler maintains her own office at the palace, costing French taxpayers a small fortune.

The Paris Match journalist has five staff working for her, at a cost of ￡17,000 per month, and her taxpayer-funded perks included homes across France, and private jets and limousines at her disposal as she represents the nation at home and abroad.

Miss Trierweiler became Mr Hollande’s live-in girlfriend following his separation from fellow Socialist politician Segolene Royal, the mother of his four children. Mr Hollande is was said to have taken her as mistress while still living with Miss Royal.

Miss Trierweiler has been a deeply controversial figure since moving into the Elysée following Mr Hollande’s presidential election win in 2012.

She was told on Thursday evening that the French magazine Closer was preparing to publish a seven-page exposé of Mr Hollande’s philandering.

A palace source said: ‘She didn’t believe it at first. She thought they could just get their lawyers to stop the magazine publishing the story.

‘Then she was told it couldn’t be banned. She was upset, very upset.

‘She is being humiliated, and effectively turned into a national laughing stock.’

A palace source said: ‘She didn’t believe it at first. She thought they could just get their lawyers to stop the magazine publishing the story.

‘Then she was told it couldn’t be banned. She was upset, very upset.

‘She is being humiliated, and effectively turned into a national laughing stock.’

France has some of the strictest privacy laws in the world and previous French presidents Nicolas Sarkozy, Jacques Chirac and Francois Mitterrand all secretly cheated on their wives.

Opponents claim the scandal exposes publicly-funded deceit, security lapses and the enormous cost of a first lady who no longer has legitimacy.

Paris is buzzing with speculation over who tipped off the magazine – including the extraordinary suggestion the president himself was responsible for the leak as a way of getting rid of split-skirt-wearing Miss Trierweiler.

Laurence Piau, the editor of Closer, said Mr Hollande was ‘clearly in love’ with Miss Gayet, a mother of two, and wanted a future with her.