Sturgeon laughs off rumours of affair with diplomat and reveals ‘secret superpower’

Nicola Sturgeon has laughed off social media rumours that she is having an extra-marital affair with a French diplomat.

The former first minister addressed extraordinary rumours about her private life in a BBC podcast.

Sturgeon, who officially resigned as first minister on Tuesday, also revealed how she reached the top in Scottish politics despite being “painfully shy” by making the trait her “secret superpower”.

She spoke on the BBC Sounds’ Nicola Sturgeon Podcast, which is available today.

BBC Scotland’s political editor Glenn Campbell, the podcast’s co-host, said to Sturgeon: “People speculate about your marriage, your sexuality, on social media.”

She replied: “I read accounts of my life on social media and I think, ‘You know, it is so much more glamorous sounding and so much more exciting’. I’ve got houses everywhere if you believe social media.”

Asked by Campbell about claims on social media she was having an affair with a French diplomat, she said: “I’ll tell you off camera which one it is supposed to be but, whichever one it is, we’ve actually had a laugh about it.”

Sturgeon, who is married for former SNP chief executive Peter Murrell, also spoke about the personal cost of a career in politics. She said: “There’s been lots and lots of speculation over the years about why I don’t have kids now. There’s a multitude of reasons, as will be the case for most women who don’t have kids.

“But, if I look back to my younger days, there was probably an element of, if I was to have a child while I was pursuing a political career, maybe I wouldn’t be taken as seriously as I needed to be taken. So, yes, it does come at a cost.”

Sturgeon suffered a miscarriage in the early stages of pregnancy in 2011, and did not speak publicly about her ordeal until years later. She said: “It took me a few years after having a miscarriage to talk about it publicly because I wasn’t sure that I wanted to.

“And then, realising you do have a platform, particularly around issues cloaked in stigma, to change that a little bit or to contribute to changing the dial on that. And that’s why I chose to speak out about miscarriage. And also partly because I got to an age where I thought I can’t keep sitting in interviews being asked why I don’t have kids. It gets to the point where it becomes uncomfortable.”

Sturgeon also told the podcast she had overcome shyness to make it to the top in politics.

She said: “As a child, a teenager, as the adult I am sitting here talking to you right now, I am painfully shy, very reserved. I am an introvert. I carry with me, and I’m not unique in this, a really healthy dose of self-doubt.

“So how does that person become first minister? I suppose I’ve equally always had within me a sort of fire in the belly, a drive and a determination to overcome all of that.

“I’ve never made all of that go away but I have worked really hard to overcome it and I’ve come to the conclusion there are downsides to being like that when you’re in politics – some of the stuff people say about me, that I operate in a very tight inner circle – some of that is rooted in the shyness.

“It also probably has, over the years, led to me having a more austere and sort of severe persona, but I’ve come to the conclusion that, actually, it’s been my secret superpower.”