Emmanuel and Brigitte Macron's scandal-plagued relationship: From student-teacher affair to the shocking physical altercation
When video surfaced Monday morning of Brigitte Macron appearing to forcefully shove the face of her husband, French President Emmanuel Macron, as they arrived in Vietnam, the shocking moment was just the latest in a relationship that has been fraught with scandal.
The head of state was just 15 years old — the age of consent in France — in 1993 when he met Madame Brigitte Auziere, a 39-year-old high school teacher, at the Catholic Lycee La Providence in Amiens, where he was also a classmate of her eldest daughter, Laurence.
'At 15, Macron had the maturity of a 25-year-old,' his ex-sports teacher Daniel Leleu, previously said, according to Bloomberg.
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'He preferred to spend his time talking with the teachers rather than his classmates.'
9 French President Emmanuel Macron could be seen being shoved in the face by his wife Brigitte before they exited the plane in Vietnam.
9 Emmanuel Macron, then believed to be 15, kissing his teacher, Brigitte Trogneux Auziere, then 24 years his senior and a married mother of three children.
France 3
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9 An undated photo of Brigitte Macron believed to have been taken when she was a teacher at the future president's high school in Amiens, France.
France 3
Brigitte's family found out about the affair in the summer of 1994 after they caught the two of them sunbathing around the pool at the home of the teacher's aging parents, according to a biography of France's first lady called 'Brigitte Macron: An Unfettered Woman' by Maelle Brun.
The relationship between the straight-A student and his literature and drama teacher caused an uproar. Locals sent anonymous letters to the headquarters of the storied chocolate and macaron factory run by Brigitte's family denouncing the affair.
Neighbors, friends and foes also spit on the doors of the future First Lady of France, according to Brun.
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'From one day to the next, her friends with whom she was planning a vacation, refused to speak to her,' she writes.
Emmanuel later mentioned the early romance when he said: 'We spoke about everything. And I discovered we had always known one another', the Daily Mail reports.
9 Emmanuel Macron (top row, fourth from right) as a student.
France 3
At the time, Brigitte was married to banker Andre-Louis Auziere, with whom she shared three children.
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Auziere took the news of his wife's infatuation with the teenager 'like a slap in the face,' according to Bruns.
Their subsequent divorce dragged out for a decade.
During that time, Emmanuel eventually left Amiens to spend his last year at a prestigious Paris high school in Paris, but distance didn't dampen the passion he and Brigitte had for each other.
'My head was in a mess,' Brigitte revealed in a rare interview, given to the outlet Paris Match. 'I told myself that he would fall in love with someone his [own] age. It didn't happen.'
Emmanuel went on university to study politics and international affairs, and the two continued seeing each other.
'Every Friday after our Spanish lesson, he would run to the train station and jump on the train,' said Gaspard Gantzer, who attended university with Macron in Strasbourg.
The couple eventually married in the autumn of 2007, the year Brigitte's divorce was finally finalized. He was 29. She was 54.
9 Emmanuel and Brigitte Macron share a laugh on their wedding day October 20, 2007
France 3
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The wedding took place at city hall in the beach-front town of Le Touquet, the same place where Brigitte had married her first husband in 1974 and where her family owned a weekend home. Brigitte wore a short white dress. Her three children attended as well as other family members and Emmanuel's own parents.
'Each and every one of you is a witness to these last 13 years,' said Macron in a toast to his bride and new family. 'And you have accepted us. You have made us what we are today … I want to thank you for loving us the way we are, and I want to thank Brigitte's children because this has not been easy for them.'
After the wedding, the couple focussed on Emmanuel's burgeoning political career. Brigitte would eventually quit her job as a teacher to work as her husband's main consultant when he became finance minister in the government of Francois Hollande in 2014.
9 Macron, then economy minister, and his wife Brigitte as they arrive at the Elysee Palace in Paris, France in 2015.
AP
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9 Then French Economy Minister Emmanuel Macron, right, and his wife Brigitte arrive at the Elysee presidential palace in Paris to attend a state dinner on March 10, 2016.
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She remained by his side as he ran for president, and weathered blistering attacks in the French media, including allegations that Emmanuel was using her as a front to cover up a homosexual relationship with the head of Radio France.
Although the couple put on a brave show in public, and Emmanuel vigorously denied the allegations, in private Brigitte was very upset about the rumors, reports Brun. As one of her friends told the author, 'This is a woman who has already endured a great deal of pain.'
In 2017, at age 39, Emmanuel was elected the President of France, becoming the country's youngest leader ever.
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9 Macron reacts after delivering a speech at a meeting in Pau, southwestern France, Wednesday, April 12, 2017 ahead of the two-round presidential election.
AP
That same year, in an interview with Elle France, Brigitte addressed the couple's age difference.
'There are times in your life where you need to make vital choices,' she told the outlet. 'Of course, we have breakfast together, me and my wrinkles, him with his youth, but it's like that.'
In recent months, the French president has been embroiled in both political and personal turmoil.
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9 US President Donald Trump, Brigitte Macron, French President Emmanuel Macron, and first lady Melania Trump walk on the South Lawn at the White House, on April 23, 2018, in Washington, DC.
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In December, his government collapsed and France was plunged into chaos following a vote of no confidence in the center-right Minister Michel Barnier.
Earlier this month, the Elysée Palace was forced to deny false claims that he took cocaine onto a train destined for Kyiv for a meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.
On Monday, the same day as the altercation between the couple, France's Court of Auditors issued a warning that France's social security spending was 'out of control' and that a long-fearing liquidity crisis in the near future was growing closer.
Meanwhile, in a statement Emmanuel tried to downplay the incident with Brigitte, saying he was 'squabbling and, rather, joking' with his wife, adding, 'Everyone needs to calm down.'
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