The French magazine that first reported about an alleged affair between President Francois Hollande and actress Julie Gayet has claimed the liaison had been going on for two years.

Closer‘s latest edition contains more details of the alleged affair, including a claim that the romance was “not as recent as some would like to make out. It is… two years old!”

According to the tabloid, the two were introduced to each other in 2011 by Hollande’s former partner and mother of his children, fellow Socialist politician Segolene Royal.

Hollande left Royal in 2007 for First Lady Valerie Trierweiler, but the two have remained on collegial terms.

Closer said Gayet, 41, was introduced to Hollande, 59, as one of the performers who had supported Royal during her failed bid for president in 2007.

The report said Hollande and Gayet, who is separated from the father of her two children, “clicked immediately” and soon began an on-off affair.

The alleged romance waned during his campaign for president and first months in office in 2012, but took off again in mid-2013, according to Closer.

The latest revelations come as Trierweiler is spending a second week in a Paris hospital, where she was admitted last week following the initial revelations.

Her aides at the Elysee Palace said the 48-year-old First Lady was being treated for “shock”.

At a press conference on Tuesday Hollande admitted he and Trierweiler were experiencing “painful moments” and vowed to clarify their relationship before a state visit to the United States on February 11.

He has refused to comment on the Closer report itself, saying only that private matters should be handled in private.