PARIS: Allegations that French President Francois Hollande is having an affair with an actress come at a bad time as he prepares to showcase efforts to tackle the country’s economic and social woes.

Already unpopular in the opinion polls, Hollande, who has yet to win his bet to reverse the trend in unemployment, is now under attack in his private life.

The French president, 59, who officially lives with his partner Valerie Trierweiler, has not denied the relationship with 41-year-old actress Julie Gayet but reacted furiously to Friday’s publication of the allegation in Closer magazine.

He threatened legal action over what he called a violation of his right to privacy.

“It’s a real passion that has... turned their lives upside down and makes them take insane risks,” Closer said in a special edition Friday detailing the president’s alleged infidelity.

The timing of the alleged affair is particularly bad for the French president.

Hollande, whose popularity ratings have hit record lows in recent months, had been expected to use his bi-annual press conference on Tuesday to announce a new strategy aimed at lifting France out of its economic difficulties.

Closer’s article, which describes a president traveling at night on the backseat of a scooter to see his lover, could spoil Hollande’s new year, newspapers warned.