France's First Lady? or not.

Check out the following article about France's new president Sarkozy's wife. "... the recent cliff-hanger of the sporadic absences of Cecilia from her ambitious husband's side."

What a tolerant nation France is with respect to marriage - although I am not sure if this is a good tolerance or not. Is having affairs outside of marriage a good thing for society?
In my talks with an ex-housemate, she still questions whether monogamy is a natural behavior or even a good thing. I have always been of the thought that it is, but is it only because this is the accepted behavior in the societies that I lived in?
if in France this is the accepted behavior then maybe monogamy is simply behavioral as opposed to an inherently natural act. Maybe it is possible to separate love and sex. Maybe monogamy is good but not the forever kind and we are in fact supposed to have several partners instead of one in our lifetime.
It is very interesting when we think of about the whys and how much of the accepted and in fact revered behavior is natural and how much environmental. What do you guys think?