Macron brushes off pushing from wife ahead of Vietnam trip
French President Emmanuel Macron is downplaying a video that appeared to show his wife, Brigitte, pushing him on the face as they were about to disembark a plane after landing in Vietnam.
The video, taken Monday as the two were commencing a tour throughout Southeast Asia, shows Macron standing in front of the exit as the plane door is opened after landing in Hanoi. He is turned and appears to be having a conversation to his right, after which the French first lady's arms are seen pushing on his face, causing him to have to take a step back.
Macron then turns forward, smiles and waves to onlookers before going out of view. They then walked down the stairs from the plane onto the runway side by side.
He later told reporters that he and his wife were just joking around ahead of their visit to the country. He said the incident was being overanalyzed as a 'sort of geo-planetary catastrophe.'
'We are squabbling and, rather, joking with my wife,' he said.
'Everyone needs to calm down,' he added, arguing that the incident should be taken as an example of caution about disinformation online.
Macron's office also later brushed off the incident in a statement.
'It was a moment where the president and his wife were decompressing one last time before the start of the trip by horsing around. It's a moment of complicity. It was all that was needed to give ammunition to the conspiracy theorists,' the president's office said.
The Macrons have been married since 2007. They met when the now-president was in high school and she was a teacher and supervisor for a drama club that he was in.
They married just more than a decade after first meeting, following Brigitte's divorce from her first husband.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Bloomberg
an hour ago
- Bloomberg
Indonesia Mulls China's Offer of Battle-Tested J-10 Fighter Jets
Indonesia said China has offered to sell it J-10 jets, the fighter aircraft that were recently battle-tested in Pakistan's clashes with India over Kashmir. The government is examining whether the planes widely used by China's air force meet operational requirements and can be integrated into Indonesia's existing systems, Deputy Defense Minister Donny Ermawan Taufanto said during a public discussion in Jakarta on Wednesday.
Washington Post
5 hours ago
- Washington Post
Annual births fall to another record low in Japan as its population emergency deepens
TOKYO — The number of newborns in Japan is decreasing faster than projected, with the number of annual births falling to another record low last year, according to government data released Wednesday. The Health Ministry said 686,061 babies were born in Japan in 2024, a drop of 5.7% on the previous year and the first time the number of newborns fell below 700,000 since records began in 1899. It's the 16th straight year of decline. It's about one-quarter of the peak of 2.7 million births in 1949 during the postwar baby boom. The data in a country of rapidly aging and shrinking population adds to concern about the sustainability of the economy and national security at a time it seeks to increase defense spending. Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba has described the situation as 'a silent emergency' and has promised to promote more flexible working environment and other measures that would help married couples to balance work and parenting, especially in rural areas where family values tend to be more conservative and harder on women. Japan is one of a number of east Asian countries grappling with falling birth rates and an aging population. South Korea and China have fought for years to encourage families to have more children. Also on Wednesday, Vietnam scrapped decades-old laws limiting families to two children in an effort to stem falling birth rates. The Health Ministry's latest data showed that Japan's fertility rate — the average number of babies a woman is expected to have in her lifetime — also fell to a new low of 1.15 in 2024, from 1.2 a year earlier. The number of marriage was slightly up, to 485,063 couples, but the downtrend since the 1970s remains unchanged. Experts say the government's measures have not addressed a growing number of young people reluctant to marry, largely focusing on already married couples. The younger generation are increasingly reluctant to marry or have children due to bleak job prospects, a high cost of living and a gender-biased corporate culture that adds extra burdens for women and working mothers, experts say. A growing number of women also cite pressure to take their husband's surname as a reason for their reluctance to marry. Under Japanese law, couples must choose a single surname to marry. Japan's population of about 124 million people is projected to fall to 87 million by 2070, with 40% of the population over 65.
Bloomberg
6 hours ago
- Bloomberg
Vietnam Says It Is Responding to US Demands With ‘Goodwill'
Vietnam said it is responding to US demands with 'goodwill' as it seeks to address the Trump administration's concerns over the Southeast Asian country's trade gap with the US and avoid crippling duties. Vietnam's Minister of Industry and Trade Nguyen Hong Dien replied to US concerns in documents submitted to the US, and held talks with Trade Representative Jamieson Greer in Paris, according to a post on the Vietnam trade ministry's website. Dien also raised trade concerns of Vietnam, it said.
