Balding French president Francois Hollande's private hairdresser 'is paid €10,000 a month'
7 years, 9 months ago - July 14, 2016
By the end of President Francois Hollande’s first term his barber will earn nearly $660,000.
Taxpayers in France are footing the bill, which is €9,895 for a month's work with family benefits and residence allowance thrown in on top. The staggering figure is only €5,000 a month less than Hollande himself is paid to run the whole country, according to a French news source.
French newspaper Canard Enchaîné published the hairdresser's contract, in which he is referred to as Oliver B.
The five-year contract would mean by the end of his tenure, Mr B will have pocketed around €600,000.
The contract, pictured below, reads: 'Mr B. commits to maintaining the utmost secrecy, during and after the completion of his contract, on the work he has done and the information he has had access to.'
The French newspaper claim the hairdresser is a regular travel companion to the president and Mr B's lawyer Sarah Levy told a French news source the bumper salary was to reflect her client's workload.
'He is available to the president around the clock, 24 hours a day, and is never replaced by anyone else. He missed the birth of his own children, their broken arms, their operations,' she said.
Mr B coiffures Francois Hollande's hair every morning, and also does the president's hair before public appearances.
The story has prompted French citizens to poke fun at their head of state by offering up hair loss suggestions ranging from a garish mullet to a Donald Trump-inspired make-over.
