Sarkozy, en route to a European Union meeting in Lisbon, was silent about the personal and public problems that have hit his nascent presidency. But the coincidence of the two events prompted speculation that the announcement of the divorce was designed to take attention away from the strike, the biggest in 12 years.
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The Sarkozys apparently appeared before a judge Monday in the Paris suburb of Nanterre and were divorcing by "mutual agreement," according to their lawyer, Michele Cahen, who told reporters: "Everything went well.... I was both of their lawyers, and I couldn't have been if there had been a disagreement."
The official silence helped fuel questions about whether the Elysee had chosen today, the day of the first bitter challenge to the Sarkozy presidency, to confirm the divorce. It was unclear if it was coincidence or political calculation to have the strike subordinated in the news by juicy details of the president's marital woes.
Throughout the day, scenes from the marriage of the 52-year-old president and Cecilia, a former model, streamed across television news with just intermittent headlines at the bottom of the screen about subways not working and traffic jams clogging French cities.
Even the scene of 20,000 people marching from Paris' famed Place de la Republique in support of the strike received minimal coverage.
The president's opponents also focused on the gossip with one leftist newspaper making a pun about Sarkozy's "Black October." Usually days are color-coded in the French media, as in "Black Thursday," to signal traffic problems.
A communist weekly ran a cartoon showing Cecilia Sarkozy with her fist in the air and a caption saying, "Cecilia on unlimited strike!"
Since Sarkozy came into office six months ago, his wife has shown little interest in the job of first lady, appearing sporadically at his side.
The French are used to public workers going on strike but not presidents getting divorced. Many Parisians say autumn in France is the season when striking public servants traditionally tie up the transportation system to keep the government from cutting benefits, of which workers in the private sector can only dream.
"I have lived through so many of these metro stoppages that I have my special strike shoes," said 51-year-old Patrice Aulun, a secretary at an insurance firm who walked seven miles across Paris to get to work.
The 24-hour strike crippled the transportation system. The national rail service ground to a halt, and subways in Paris were few and far between. Buses were nowhere in sight, taxis were scarce, a few airplanes were delayed and cross-channel Eurostar trains ran on a reduced schedule.
Those most determined to get to work either walked like Aulun, used skates or competed for the thousands of bicycles available through a city-run rental service known as Velib'.
The strike was prompted by a proposal by Sarkozy to reduce special pensions that allow some rail, utility and other workers to retire as young as 50, and which cost French taxpayers 7 billion euros a year.
Although the form and rhythm of the strike were unsurprising, several people questioned whether it would have a different outcome from times past when presidents and prime ministers backed down in the face of persistent labor unrest. During those strikes, public opinion has always been with the workers.
But Sarkozy's popularity in the polls remains near 60%, and all but one communist-leaning newspaper ran polls showing that the majority of the French were against this strike.
As for the divorce, almost all of the men in Sarkozy's government who were asked about it recoiled from the subject.
"I don't care about [his] private life. It's not my business. I already have a hard time dealing with mine," said the president of the French Senate, Christian Poncelet, who is a member of the president's center-right party.
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