Carla Bruni to miss Cannes

Paris - France's supermodel first lady Carla Bruni said she is bowing out of the Cannes Film Festival where she features in a film by US director Woody Allen, "for personal reasons", in comments published on Tuesday.

"I was dreaming of going to appear in person on the red carpet at the glitzy movie industry shindig", she was quoted as saying in an interview on the website of RTL radio.

"I regret it but I cannot go for personal reasons and for professional reasons, unfortunately," she added.

Bruni, 43, has recently declined to comment on media gossip that she is pregnant. She told a panel of readers of Le Parisien newspaper that her "lips are, in a sense, sealed" when asked about a pregnancy.

Beside Woody Allen

The Italian-born star plays a museum guide in a brief appearance in Allen's latest film, Midnight in Paris, a romantic comedy which will open the festival on Wednesday, screening out of competition.

It is the first film role for the ex-model-turned singer, who married Sarkozy in 2007. She appears alongside US actor Owen Wilson and French starlet Marion Cotillard.

"I would have liked to be in the team, see the actors again and be beside Woody Allen, even if my role is very small," Bruni told RTL.