Latest news with #BrigitteTrogneux
Yahoo
26-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Who is Emmanuel Macron's wife after viral video of shock 'slap'
The French president and his wife have brushed off an incident that appeared to show Emmanuel Macron being slapped during a heated exchange between the couple. The pair, who are on a tour of Southeast Asia, were filmed arriving at Hanoi airport in Vietnam on their official plane. The clip shows Macron's profile through the vehicle door. Seconds later, his wife, Brigette Trogneux, appears to quickly raise a hand to his face and strike him. The president, 47, looks taken aback before he addresses onlookers by waving and smiling at them outside, the Mirror Online reports. The two then walk down the stairs, with Emmanuel attempting to hold her hand, but she chooses not to take it. Instead, the First Lady holds onto the handrail of the walkway. An Elysee official denied it showed an argument between the couple, with a statement saying: "It was a moment when the president and his wife were relaxing one last time before the start of the trip by having a laugh." READ MORE: Emmanuel Macron's wife 'slaps him' during clash on official tour READ MORE: Five skiers found dead on Switzerland glacier near popular Swiss resort However, it is a far cry from their usual displays of affection over the course of their 18-year marriage. Macron's wife, Brigitte Trogneux, was his drama teacher in high school and is 25 years his senior. He's 47, she's 72. The French President was just 16 when he vowed to marry Trogneux - a married mum-of-three at the time - and his parents even tried to put a stop to the love affair, according to a book. The unusual love story has captivated French tabloids and magazines, and emerged as a major storyline during Macron's rapid rise towards the Elysee Palace, with both the husband and wife hitting back at critics. Macron, who was elected in 2017 as the Republic's 5th youngest ever president, has repeatedly paid tribute to his wife and her unwavering support. Their romance blossomed as Trogneux taught Macron when he was a 15-year-old student at a Jesuit college in Amiens. A 2017 book says he defied orders from his parents to end the romance and his father ordered Trogneux to stay away from his son until he reached 18. A tearful Trogneux, then known as Brigitte Auziere (her married name), replied: "I cannot promise you anything." In 2016, she told a French documentary that he wasn't like the other teenagers in her classes, BBC News reported. She recalled how he proposed writing a play together, adding: "I didn't think it would go very far. I thought he would get bored. We wrote, and little by little I was totally overcome by the intelligence of this boy.' At 16, Macron's parents sent him to Paris to continue his studies but he vowed to marry Trogneux, who was around 40. Trogneux told the documentary: 'We'd call each other all the time and spend hours on the phone. Bit by bit, he defeated all my resistance, in an amazing way, with patience.' The relationship continued after he left for Paris, became an adult and graduated from university, and eventually moved into investment banking, although it was unclear when the romance became a full-blown love affair. Trogneux joined him in Paris and the couple married in 2007 - but she did not take his name after she divorced her first husband. The pair do not have any children together. New details about their romance emerged in journalist Anne Fulda's timely book, "Emmanuel Macron: A Perfect Young Man". She interviewed Macron, Trogneux and both of his parents, and said they were shocked when they found out he was pursuing his teacher. Macron's mother was quoted as saying: "We couldn't believe it. What is clear is that when Emmanuel met Brigitte, we couldn't just say: 'That's great!'" She later confronted Trogneux saying: "Don't you see. You've had your life. But he won't have children with you." Fulda said Macron's parents have since accepted the relationship and his mother has since described her as "adorable". In the book, Trogneux was discreet about the origins of the affair. She was quoted as saying: "Nobody will ever know at what moment our story became a love story. That belongs to us. That is our secret." Macron, who could become France's youngest ever president, hit back at critics, saying: "Nobody would call it unusual if the age difference was reversed. People find it difficult to accept something that is sincere and unique." Fulda said the couple once avoided publicity but that changed once Macron started running for president. She told BBC News: "He wants to give the idea that, if he was able to seduce a woman 24 years his senior and a mother of three children, in a small provincial town... despite opprobrium and mockery, he can conquer France in the same way."
The Independent
26-05-2025
- Politics
- The Independent
How Emmanuel Macron's parents discovered their son was dating his 40-year-old teacher
A new biography of French President Emmanuel Macron has revealed his parents' shock when they discovered their 16-year-old son was having an affair with his married teacher. Much has been made of the fact that centrist Macron is married to Brigitte Trogneux, a woman 24 years his senior he met as a 15-year-old schoolboy when she was a teacher at La Providence, a private school in Amiens, northern France. Writer Anne Fulda, who penned the book Emmanuel Macron: A Perfect Young Man, spoke to the politician's parents about the scandalous affair that began while Ms Trogneux was a 39-year-old married mother-of-three. The schoolboy's parents had believed their son was dating his teacher's daughter, Laurence, until the truth came out through a family friend. Shocked at the illicit affair, the Macrons removed the intellectually gifted teenager from the school. His mother, Francoise Nogues-Macron, told Ms Fulda: 'We just couldn't believe it. What is clear is that when Emmanuel met Brigitte, we couldn't just say, 'That's great'.' But she added: 'What mattered to me was not the fact he was having a relationship with Brigitte but that he was alive and there weren't any problems.' Realising the affair would not be a passing phase, she is said to have told the teacher: 'Don't you see? You've had your life. But he won't have children with you.' His father, Jean-Michel Macron, revealed he 'almost fell off his chair' when he learned about his son's lover: 'When Emmanuel met Brigitte, we certainly did not say, 'How wonderful!' The shaken parents met Ms Trogneux and asked her not to see their son again until he reached adulthood, but she defiantly told them she couldn't 'promise anything'. But the future President's maternal grandmother, Manette, was surprisingly understanding. Francoise recalled: 'My mother, who would never have tolerated such a situation for her own children, showed herself to be much more open and tolerant with regard to her grandchildren's love affairs.' Both parents deny any suggestion that they would have threatened to kick the schoolboy out of the house, and insist he was due to go to the prestigious Lycee Henri IV in Paris for the final year of his studies in any case. The young Macron was not a student in his future wife's French classes but in her drama lessons, which she taught as a second subject. She recalls being in awe of his 'exceptional intelligence, a way of thinking that I had never seen before' and said that when she arrived at La Provence, 'all the teachers were buzzing about Emmanuel'. The unlikely pair grew close when they co-authored a play. Ms Trogneux told a friend years later: 'You know, the day when we wrote the play together, I had a feeling I was working with Mozart. 'The writing became an excuse. I felt that we had always known each other.' The new First Lady of France confirmed to Paris Match magazine last year that a determinedly romantic Macron had vowed to marry her when he was just 17 years old, promising to come back and find her after he was sent to the capital. 'You cannot get rid of me. I will come back and marry you,' he is quoted as having said. Recalling that his parents 'took it badly' when they discovered the affair, Mr Macron said: 'I had to fight in order to live both my private and my professional life as I wish. 'I had to fight and it wasn't the easiest or most obvious, not the most automatic thing to do, nor did it correspond with established norms.' The pair eventually married in 2007 when he was 29 and she was 54 years old. Becoming a very youthful stepfather to her three adult children, he told them at the wedding reception: 'Thanks for accepting us, a not-quite-normal couple.' Mr Macron has become France's youngest ever President at the age of 39 – the same age as his wife, now 64, was when they met. Many commentators have said the obsession with their age gap is an example of deeply ingrained misogyny since men in positions of power are frequently married to much younger women. The details of the role she will play as First Lady are as yet unclear but as a former teacher, Ms Trogneux is expected to concentrate on education reform.
