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BreakingNews.ie
3 days ago
- Business
- BreakingNews.ie
Trump says his advice to Macron is 'make sure the door remains closed'
US president Donald Trump said his advice for French president Emmanuel Macron, who has been shown on a video through an open plane door being pushed in the face by his wife, was "make sure the door remains closed". Asked about the incident by reporters in the Oval Office, Mr Trump said he had spoken to Mr Macron in the wake of the video that showed his wife, Brigitte, giving him a shove on their plane. Advertisement Mr Macron has shrugged off the incident as a moment of playfulness. "He's fine," Mr Trump said of Mr Macron. In the video, Brigitte Macron appeared to shove her husband before he descended from the presidential plane late on Sunday, causing him to step back before he recovered and waved to the cameras at the foot of the stairs of the aircraft. She remained momentarily hidden behind the plane's fuselage, blocking any view of her body language. The couple then descended the steps together. An official played down the moment, denying it showed an argument between the couple, who have been married since 2007: "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." "It was a moment of closeness," the official said. Advertisement Mr Macron's visit to Vietnam, the first by a French president in almost a decade, comes as he aims to boost France's influence in its former colony. Vietnam, which has a heavily export-driven economy, has made concessions to the US in trade talks in a bid to avoid 46 per cent tariffs. But Brussels has concerns that Vietnam's efforts to buy more American goods could come at Europe's expense.
CTV News
7 days ago
- Entertainment
- CTV News
Macron's marital shove disappears from French airwaves
In this grab taken from video, France's President Emmanuel Macron prepares to disembark a plane on arrival, in Hanoi, Vietnam, Sunday, May 25, 2025. (AP Photo/Hau Dinh) A quick shove. A split-second clip that would have dominated news for days aired in France for just 24 hours and then it was gone. When a viral video appeared over the weekend showing French President Emmanuel Macron's wife, Brigitte, pushing his face just as he was about to deplane during a visit to Vietnam, not a single French newspaper front page featured it the next morning. Was it because Prime Minister François Bayrou was speaking about the financial efforts the French would have to make under his soon-to-be-unveiled budget? Or that people were detained recently in a string of crypto kidnappings? More likely, it highlighted a cultural divide between France and the Anglosphere – a long-standing French belief that politicians' private lives should be protected. This secret-keeping tradition kept President François Mitterrand's illegitimate daughter hidden for years. It has also meant a delicate silence around other controversial personal lives, like Dominique Strauss-Kahn's notorious womanizing. The former International Monetary Fund chief's arrest on sexual assault charges in New York in 2011 abruptly ended his political career just as he was emerging as a leading presidential contender. The same unwritten rules surfaced in 2014, when Closer magazine published photos of former President François Hollande – disguised by a motorcycle helmet – arriving at the apartment of a friend, where he was reportedly meeting actress Julie Gayet. At the time, Gayet was his girlfriend, even though he still had a live-in partner, Valérie Trierweiler. The story caused a stir, but Hollande's office condemned the 'invasion of privacy,' and the media soon backed off. At a press conference, Hollande faced only one question about his personal life and deflected it with the remark, 'private affairs are dealt with in private,' silencing the throng of French journalists and leaving foreign reporters stunned. So when the video of the Macrons began circulating, the initial media response was swift but short-lived. French outlets played the clip on loop, dissected it briefly, and moved on. But that core rule is now being tested. 'Over time, these kinds of personal stories have become far more difficult to contain than they were 30 or even 20 years ago,' said Thierry Arnaud, an international correspondent and veteran journalist at BFMTV. 'It's true we didn't make a big deal of it, but it's deeply embarrassing for Macron. You're intruding on a couple's intimate moment and it's uncomfortable, both for him and for those watching.' Macron's relationship with Brigitte was always unconventional. They met when he was just 15, and she was his drama teacher at a private school in Amiens. She was 24 years older, married, and a mother of three. What began as mentorship grew into something deeper, and by the time Macron graduated, he had vowed to one day marry her. 'Whatever you do, I will marry you,' he reportedly told her as a teenager. Their story was used as campaign material in 2017, they made a point of making their relationship public, posing in glossy French magazines and describing their marriage as a celebration of an atypical but loving modern family. Any critics were labeled misogynists. 'It was completely a badge of honor at first, a special kind of glamour that added to his (Macron's) image of being daring both politically and personally. He fell in love with his teacher as a teenager and pursued it, come what may. Over time, that picture has eroded,' Arnaud said. After the Vietnam shoving incident, the couple publicly displayed unity that very evening, walking hand in hand through the streets of Hanoi in a clear effort to quell any rumors of domestic discord. But the line between public and private is blurring. Traditionally, the Élysée Palace has maintained a strict policy of never commenting on rumors or politicians' personal lives. However, with the rise of social media and disinformation campaigns they are being dragged into these personal controversies, challenging that long-held stance. In March, conservative commentator Candace Owens revived an absurd conspiracy theory with a YouTube video titled 'Is France's First Lady a Man?' Promoted widely on X, Owens called it 'likely the biggest scandal in political history.' Since then, Owens has produced numerous videos about Brigitte Macron for her 4 million YouTube subscribers, including a multi-part series called Becoming Brigitte. Although the claims are completely baseless and Brigitte Macron has successfully sued two French women for spreading them it has elicited a response from the president. At a Paris event in March 2024, Macron addressed the rumor head-on saying that the worst part of being a president is having to deal with 'the false information and fabricated stories.' 'People end up believing them, and it disrupts your life, even in your most private moments,' Macron said. His words now feel prophetic, with the world speculating on a deeply intimate exchange we may never be let into.
Daily Mail
7 days ago
- General
- Daily Mail
Confessions of husband-beaters: Women admit hitting their partners - as the world reels from Macron slap video
All eyes were on Brigitte and Emmanuel Macron on Monday as they touched down in Vietnam when a clip of the French President, 47, being shoved by his 72-year-old wife went viral. The shocking incident, which occurred on the plane just as the aircraft door opened, saw Brigitte put her hand in her husband's face as she appeared to push him backwards.
Yahoo
26-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
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.
Yahoo
26-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Emmanuel Macron's Office Addresses Video of Wife Pushing Him in Face
Originally appeared on E! Online thinks everyone is making a mountain out of a molehill. After a video circulated in which the President of France appeared to be pushed in the face by his wife, Brigitte Macron, before exiting their plane on May 25, an official from the President's office set the record straight. "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," the official said in a statement, according to Reuters, on May 26. 'It was a moment of closeness.' The moment occurred after the President's plane landed on the tarmac in Hanoi, Vietnam, as Macron and his wife are set to begin a tour of Southeast Asia. In the video, Macron, 47, appeared in the plane's doorway before a hand reached out and pushed him in the face. Though the person could not be seen in the video, the arm was clad in a red jacket matching the blazer Brigitte, 72, was wearing as she and Macron descended the plane. After the push, Macron smiled and waved at the cameras before moving out of sight momentarily. The couple—who tied the knot in 2007 and are parents to three children from Brigitte's previous marriage—then walked down the plane's stairs side by side a few moments later. Macron's visit to Vietnam marks the first time a President of France has visited the country in almost a decade. More from E! Online Sister Wives' Kody Brown Reveals Why He Said He Never Loved His Ex-Wives Duck Dynasty's Sadie Robertson Details Final Moments with Grandfather Phil Robertson Demi Lovato Marries Jordan "Jutes" Lutes in California Ceremony: All the Details When asked about the moment by reporters in Hanoi the next day, per The New York Times, Macron replied, 'I was bickering, or rather joking, with my wife,' noting it's something the pair 'often do.' 'I'm surprised by it, it turns into some kind of global catastrophe where people are even coming up with theories to explain it,' he added. 'It's nonsense.' In his response to the incident on the plane, the President also cited two other recent events he said were then blown out of proportion. The first was a visit on May 14 with German chancellor, Friedrich Merz, and the British prime minister, Keir Starmer, on a train in Ukraine. After a video of the trio appeared online, some users suggested a crumpled up tissue on the table in front of them was actually a bag of cocaine. (Élysée Palace issued a statement shortly after condemning the "fake news.") When asked about the moment by reporters in Hanoi the next day, per The New York Times, Macron replied, 'I was bickering, or rather joking, with my wife,' noting it's something the pair 'often do.' 'I'm surprised by it, it turns into some kind of global catastrophe where people are even coming up with theories to explain it,' he added. 'It's nonsense.' In his response to the incident on the plane, the President also cited two other recent events he said were then blown out of proportion. The first was a visit on May 14 with German chancellor, Friedrich Merz, and the British prime minister, Keir Starmer, on a train in Ukraine. After a video of the trio appeared online, some users suggested a crumpled up tissue on the table in front of them was actually a bag of cocaine. (Élysée Palace issued a statement shortly after condemning the "fake news.") The second was a recent video of a lingering handshake with the Turkish president, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, at a meeting in Tirana, Albania. 'It's been three weeks — if you look at the international agenda of the president of the French Republic, from Kyiv to Tirana to Hanoi, there are people who have watched the videos and believe that I shared a bag of cocaine,' Macron added to reporters in Hanoi, 'that I had a 'mano a mano' with a Turkish president and that right now I'm having a fight with my wife. None of this is true.' He noted, 'So everyone needs to calm down and focus on the real news.' For the latest breaking news updates, click here to download the E! News App
