27-05-2025
Inside the relationship of Emmanuel Macron and his wife Brigitte
Emmanuel Macron and his wife Brigitte have received intense media attention this week, but it's far from the first time their relationship has come under scrutiny.
They went viral after the French president received what appeared to be a push or a slap in the face while disembarking from a plane in Vietnam – something he later claimed was just a playful moment before state business began.
'We are horsing around and, really, joking with my wife,' Mr Macron said, adding that the incident was being overblown: 'It becomes a sort of geo-planetary catastrophe.'
But their unconventional romance has made headlines many times before, as they met when she was his married school teacher, and his senior by 24 years.
They met in Amiens, a town in the Somme region of northern France where both were born, though Brigitte had moved away for university and the start of her career.
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She had three children with husband André-Louis Auzière – Sébastien, born in 1975; Laurence, born in 1977; and Tiphaine, born in 1984 – before returning to her hometown in 1991 where she took a job at La Providence catholic high school.
Emmanuel Macron, then aged 15, was a pupil in his 39-year-old teacher's drama class, alongside her eldest daughter Laurence, who is now a cardiologist.
The unlikely pair are said to have bonded over a love of literature, collaborating on scenes from a play, The Art Of Comedy, which he acted in, and his teacher directed.
The exact beginnings of the affair are unclear, but Mr Macron's parents were said to be so concerned by their close relationship that they transferred him to a boarding school in the capital.
Brigitte's husband is reported to have moved out of the family home in 1994, shortly after she met Mr Macron, although they remained married for another decade.
In a rare interview about their relationship in 2023, the first lady told Paris Match: 'For me, such a young boy was crippling. Emmanuel had to leave for Paris.
'I told myself that he would fall in love with someone his [own] age. It didn't happen.'
1953 (April 13): Brigitte Macron was born in Amiens, northern France
1974 (June): Brigitte Trogneux marries banker André-Louis Auzière, who she will go on to have three children with. She begin her career in Paris, before teaching at Collège Lucie Berger in Strasbourg.
1997 (December 21): Emmanuel Macron is born in Amiens.
1991: Brigitte moves back to Amiens with the Auzière family.
1993: Emmanuel Macron, then aged 15, meets his drama teacher Brigitte, then 39, at La Providence High School in Amiens. They bond over writing a play together, though her eldest daughter is in the same school class.
1994: André-Louis Auzière leaves the family home, though remains married to Brigitte.
1995 (circa): 'At the age of 17, Emmanuel said to me, 'Whatever you do, I will marry you!',' Brigitte recounted in an interview looking back on their relationship.
2006 (January): Brigitte divorces André-Louis Auzière.
2007 (October 20): Emmanuel and Brigitte marry in Le Touquet, a seaside town in northern France
2007: Brigitte begins teaching at Lycée Saint-Louis de Gonzague in Paris.
2015: Brigitte leaves her teaching position to support her husband's political career.
2017 (May 7): Emmanuel Macron is elected President of France.
2019 (December): André-Louis Auzière dies and is buried in a private funeral.
2025 (May 26): Viral video shows Brigitte pushing Emmanuel's face as they disembark a plane in Vietnam.
She continued to teach French language and Latin at the school, but stopped teaching her second subject Drama.
Marriage to Mr Macron would have to wait, and she described concern about the impact of their relationship on her existing family.
'The only obstacle was my children,' she said. 'I took time so I would not wreck their lives. That lasted ten years, the time to put them on the rails. You can imagine what they were hearing. But I didn't want to miss out on my life.
'I do not know how my parents, who were the model of fidelity and good education, would have reacted to our marriage.'
Her mother and father, who ran a famous chocolaterie, died before seeing them wed.
Many commentators have claimed that the intense focus around the large age gap in their relationship is an example of sexism, with some pointing out that the age gap between Donald and Melania Trump is exactly the same – 24 years – yet it is mentioned much more rarely.
Some have also commented on the relative lack of interest around the controversy in France, where there has historically been less focus on the private lives and extramarital affairs of their politicians.
The Macrons have acknowledged the unusual circumstances of their relationship.
Mr Macron is said to have recalled: '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.'
Biographer Anne Fulda wrote in her book 'Emmanuel Macron: A Perfect Young Man' that his parents initially thought he had been in a relationship with his classmate, Brigitte Macron's daughter.
His mother is said to have confronted Mrs Macron at an early stage and said 'Don't you see? You've had your life. But he won't have children with you.'
They denied banishing their son from Amiens in a bid to quash the affair, however, saying they always intended he would study in Paris for his final year.
In the Paris Match interview, Mrs Macron said: 'There is not a single day that he doesn't surprise me.
'I have never seen such a memory … such an intellectual capacity. I had many brilliant pupils and none had his capability. I have always admired him.'
Last year, President Macron broke his silence over malicious rumours his wife was born a man.
Speaking at an International Women's Day event, he expressed anger and frustration about continual speculation about his wife.
'The worst thing is the false information and fabricated scenarios,' he said. 'People eventually believe them and disturb you, even in your intimacy.' More Trending
Rumours about Ms Macron first emerged in 2021, originating on a far-right website in September before being circulated by conspiracy theorists.
The source of the rumours were later traced back to two women- Amandine Roy, a 52-year-old clairvoyant, and Natacha Rey, 48, who claimed to be a freelance journalist, who claimed in a YouTube video that Brigitte was in fact born as a baby boy called Jean-Michel Trogneux in 1953.
However, this is actually the name of Brigitte's brother.
Ms Macron later sued the two women for libel, and they were punished with 'symbolic fines' reduced on appeal last June.
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