CHELSEA manager Sonia Bompastor opened up on her secret romantic relationship with assistant Camille Abily, which they had kept under wraps for 13 years.
Bompastor, 44, took over the Blues' women's team last May after legendary predecessor Emma Hayes ended her glittering 12-year stint at Stamford Bridge to coach the US national team.
The French tactician brought over Abily, 40, having spent years playing together for Montpellier, Lyon, Paris Saint-Germain and France.
The pair then switched to coaching after hanging up their boots and enjoyed a stunning three-year run at Lyon.
Together they led OL to three consecutive league titles, one French Cup and the 2022 Champions League trophy.
To the outside world, Bompastor and Abily seemed the perfect coaching duo, but their relationship was more intimate behind the scenes.
The new Chelsea boss revealed in her recent autobiography A Life of Football - published in France on Wednesday - that she has been in a relationship with her assistant for 13 years.
And the couple also have FOUR children, who are now aged between three and nine years old.
The Lyon legend admits this was a "heavy" secret to keep all these years.
Bompastor told : "Revealing my life together with Camille, our couple, after - as I say in the book - these 13 years of lying, is still a subject on which today we are not entirely comfortable.
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"We are rather discreet and we like to have a completely normal life. Finally, we realised that having lied for 13 years is a heavy secret to keep.
"With hindsight and our different experiences, we say to ourselves that we should have revealed it from the start."
Abily, who was also interviewed before the book's launch, revealed their decision to keep their relationship secret had to do with their public profiles.
However, the Chelsea coach hinted she didn't feel the need to disclose her personal life anyway.
Abily said: "There is modesty, self-acceptance. Then, we were still two well-known players. We were already associated a lot on a lot of things.
"These are not subjects that I necessarily like to discuss. I think it's a self-acceptance already.
"Everyone around us, our children, know there's no problem. But I'm not going to be the first to tell someone who doesn't know. And yet, we were really lucky, it went really well."
Nevertheless, Bompastor and Abily retain a strictly professional relationship while on duty at Chelsea.
The couple maintained the same stance during their time in charge of Lyon, and it led to immense success.
Bompastor added: "Camille isn't my wife at work. Camille is my duo, my partner.
"We know each other very well, we complement each other very well in qualities that as a result, we're very effective at what we do."
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