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Times
28-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Times
Macron and le slap! What does it really mean?
There can now be few people who aren't aware that Brigitte Macron, the wife of President Emmanuel Macron of France, has been caught on film striking or pushing her husband. The video was taken on the tarmac at Hanoi airport on Sunday night, moments after the presidential plane landed on Vietnamese soil and the door was opened. In the Airbus's interior Brigitte, just out of view — only her outstretched arm is visible — can be seen raising her hand to her husband's face and shoving him. The slap (although it's really more of a one-handed shunt) went around the world within hours, and now we're all calling it Le Slapgate. Members of the president's entourage were quick to play it down. 'A moment when the president and his wife were decompressing … a moment of togetherness,' was their somewhat implausible explanation. Macron himself claims he was 'simply joking with my wife, as we do quite often'. But anyone who has watched the video can see him visibly recoil, and that red-jacketed arm meant business. It's hard to spin the incident as mere horseplay. In any case, however much they protest, this glimpse behind the curtain will not be so easily dismissed. The real issue here is that the Macrons have fascinated onlookers from the moment in 2017 he became France's youngest president at 39 when his wife was 64, and now the world has been thrown a titbit, a morsel of something sinister or not, that's sent the slumbering rumour mill into overdrive. The quarter-of-a-century age gap is intriguing, but more controversial is the circumstances of their meeting. He was a schoolboy of 15 and she was his drama teacher, a 39-year-old mother of three, one of whom, her middle child Laurence, was his classmate. Her eldest son, Sebastien, is two years older than Macron. History does not relate at what point their relationship became public, but Macron's parents removed him from the school in Amiens and sent him to Paris to finish his education in the hope that the separation would end their liaison. They hoped in vain, and the couple married in 2007 when he was 29 and she was 54. So far so weird. • I waited ten years to marry Emmanuel Macron, says Brigitte On top of that unusual beginning, or because of it, there have been rumours about Macron's sexuality. ('To say that it is not possible for a man living with an older woman to be anything other than a homosexual or a hidden gigolo is misogynous. And it's also homophobia,' Macron has said.) But the gossip that, perhaps inevitably, has gained the most traction is that their relationship is more like that of a mother and son than a husband and wife. She is said to organise everything from his diary to his clothes, and it is not unusual for her to 'scold him for doing something wrong'. There are many theories about what goes on in this marriage, and now we've all got a theory about Slapgate and what's behind it. These are the top nine conversations we've had since. 1. To be fair it wasn't a slap, it was more of a chin push, and we've all been there haven't we? Not to say that normal happy couples lash out at each other, except for, they occasionally do. We're not talking about taking a swing, to be clear, but if you are inclined to playfully push someone who is amusing/annoying you, or give them a light jab to the upper arm (No! You cannot be serious!), or push their face away when sitting next to them on the sofa (Why aren't you listening!), then you are also capable of the less frequent shunt of exasperation, the barge past, or the most French of them all, now we come to think of it, the hand-off. If aimed at the head (as Brigitte's was) this is pretty full-on but also not astonishing. It looks a lot like a 'No I am still furious with you … Va-t-en!' move. Or maybe 'Don't come near me, I hate your job!' Or there could be an element of 'Don't speak to me' going on there too. We've all clapped a hand over our partner's mouth to stop them talking, haven't we? Usually when they were saying 'and just when I thought you'd finally stopped, you poured yourself another drink and started to tell Geoff he needed to lose three stone'. 2. This proves they're a regular couple We're slightly surprised to find Petit Macron and Mrs Macron exhibiting marital frustration because we rather assumed this was more of a slick arrangement involving two people who support each other professionally, whose union is mutually desirable, but who are not (how shall we put it) passionate about each other. We thought they were a team, not so much a fighty couple who sometimes really get on each other's nerves. 3. It's Melania and Donald all over again There's a private plane, a hand-hold rejected, two stony-faced people standing on foreign tarmac looking as if they want to be anywhere but there with each other. It is all familiar. But Melania Trump (others might venture) would never raise a hand to Donald because she would go quite a long way not to have to touch him. And there's something about this moment that suggests a passionate argument not yet resolved to Mrs Macron's liking, whereas with M and D it's more like 'you booked me for three publics and two foreign trips and this was not in the pre-Flotus document'. 'The job demands upbeat smiles and flesh pressing and endless meet and greets' NHAC NGUYEN / AFP/GETTY IMAGES 4. She's fed up with the job Never mind the packed tour of southeast Asia stretching ahead, the job demands upbeat smiles and flesh pressing and endless meet and greets and wardrobe changes and long, long dinners sitting next to minor dignitaries, and she might just have been expressing her wish that he could do all this on his own for once. 5. They are French They are French, and the French, as all Brits have been brought up to believe, do things differently, especially when it comes to men and women. We're a bit blurry about the details but we know this much: French men are rogues and philanderers and all have a bit of cinq à sept on the side and they don't like feminism and are very much not on board with égalité. Your basic nightmare. French women are long-suffering but also the older ones (Brigitte?) quite like the old-style 'dance' (see the established French actresses coming out against MeToo and the tacit support for Gérard Depardieu and the like) and they all believe man-pleasing to be a basic feminine duty. They also will happily slap that man hard across the face if he transgresses and then all hell will break loose and there will be shouting, extravagant gesturing, lots of storming about (her wearing his shirt, him smoking a Gitane). We're not sure if any of this is true IRL but it's part of the French myth and there is no doubt that we expect fireworks from this lot. Slaps at the very least. • So the 'French paradox' was actually a fallacy 6. If it was the other way around and he'd pushed her you'd be horrified You would. Absolutely fair. 7. Things happen on planes, don't they? Well they do if you drink all your duty-free allocation, you are delayed on the runway for four hours and then the airline tells you they have been unable to load the meals and the loos are locked. Not so much on the French equivalent of Air Force One. But also it is true that 16-hour overnight flights do not bring out the best in people, especially people who need to be on parade the second they hit the tarmac. 8. Maybe it was 'horseplay' We've all got an actual horseplay story that didn't end well. The time you threw a potato (raw) at him and it chipped his tooth, for example. But look, if it genuinely was horseplay, we know how this goes: he would have grabbed her wrists and she'd have lurched forwards, they'd both have lost their balance and ended up sprawling on the floor and then we'd all be asking: is Macron the new Biden? So no point trying that one. 9. Is she the (very) scary power behind the throne? Macron did look taken aback, but did he maybe also look a bit like someone who was used to getting a clip around the ear if he displeased his handler? Very hard to say, of course, but factor in the mother-son stuff and bear in mind that middle-class French mamans are absolute tyrants, and you might be onto something.
Sky News
27-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Sky News
Classroom crush to face push: Key moments in the Macrons' relationship
French President Emmanuel Macron has dismissed a video of him being pushed in the face by his wife as "nonsense". The clip, which shows Brigitte Macron place her hands on her husband's face as they prepare to exit their plane, sparked suggestions that the French first couple were caught in the middle of an argument. But Mr Macron said afterwards it was a case of "simply joking with my wife, as we often do". The pair's relationship has been in the headlines since Mr Macron's political career put him, and his loved ones, in the public eye. Both have been quizzed about their 25-year age gap - he is 47 and she is 72 - as well as their unconventional meet. Use our slider below to look through some of the key moments of the Macrons' relationship. When Emmanuel met Brigitte Mr Macron met Brigitte Trogneux, as she was then known, in 1993 when he was 15. At the time, she worked as a teacher at his secondary school in the French city of Amiens. As a student, Mr Macron was not in the classes his future wife taught, but the pair spent time together while working on a school play and during theatre workshops she ran. She was almost 40, married to banker Andre Auziere and had three children, Sebastien, Laurence, and Tiphaine. According to biographer Anne Fulda, who interviewed the Macron family, the French leader's parents initially thought he had a crush on Laurence Auziere, who was in his class at school. But in fact it was her mum. Mr Macron's mother, Francoise, is quoted in Fulda's book as saying: "We couldn't believe it. What is clear is that when Emmanuel met Brigitte we couldn't just say: 'That's great!'" His parents also allegedly told Brigitte to stay away from their son until he was 18, to which she replied: "I cannot promise you anything." Years later, she would confide in a friend that being with the young French president was like "working with Mozart". 'I will marry you' Defying the orders from Mr Macron's parents, the pair kept in touch, even after he was sent to Paris to complete his education at one of France's finest schools. Now around the age of 17, Mr Macron told his future wife: "I will be back for you. Whatever you do, I will marry you." In a 2017 interview with Elle France magazine, Mrs Macron said there was "nothing between" the two of them at the time he went to Paris, but it "all unfolded very slowly". She said: "The great distances that separated us physically until 2007. But we wrote to each other all the time during that period. "It all unfolded very slowly. I gradually brought my family to realise that. Emmanuel gradually brought his family to realise that." She admitted at the time she was concerned for her children as "spiteful gossip" had been "making the rounds". The couple eventually got married in 2007, a year after she divorced Mr Auziere. At the time of their wedding, he was 29 and she was 54. Life as the French first lady Nearly a decade after tying the knot, Mr Macron made a bid for the presidency, which he won in May 2017. From the moment Mr Macron started campaigning in 2016, his wife was with him on the election trail, during which he said he would "clarify" the role of the head of state's spouse. Shortly after becoming the first lady, Mrs Macron was asked about the relationship with her husband, and their age gap - which is the same as Donald and Melania Trump. She told Elle France that the difference in their ages is a "joke between" them, adding: "Anything anyone might say about the 20 years' difference is just a big nothing." She said: "Of course, we have breakfast, me with my wrinkles, him with his fresh face, but that's how it is. If I had not made that choice, I would have missed out on my life." Dispelling rumours As a couple, Mr and Mrs Macron have had to dispel various rumours that have emerged about them both. In 2017 Mr Macron laughed off rumours of a gay affair outside his marriage, saying: "If you're told I lead a double life... it's because my hologram has escaped." Then in 2022, Mrs Macron launched legal action over the spread of false claims that she was transgender. In September 2024, she was awarded €8,000 (£6,000) in damages by a Paris court after it found two women guilty of spreading the false claims.
Daily Mail
26-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Daily Mail
Shocked Gen-Z is only just finding out how Emmanuel Macron met his wife after shock 'shoving' video emerges
Members of Gen Z have been left shocked to learn how Emmanuel Macron and his wife Brigitte first met - following the now-viral video of her 'shoving him in the face.' The Macrons shocked the world on Sunday evening after footage emerged of his wife of 18 years appearing to push him as they touched down in Hanoi, Vietnam. The act has left many speechless but it sparked discussion among others about how the couple, who have a 24-year age gap, first met. 'I just read the comments and found out that they were teacher and student, and that [they met] when he was 15?!' one astounded user wrote. 'When you learn about how old Macron was when he met his future wife, everything else makes perfect sense,' one user posted to X, formerly known as Twitter. 'Not just the age gap. More than that the fact that she was his teacher when he was just a kid is disturbing,' declared another. 'According to the reactions of those plane attendance it's clear it was a physical altercation. She was once his teacher and that some role that never ends. It doesn't bother that she's 24 years older than him but the story of their romance will surely do,' wrote someone else. The now French President was just 15 years old when he met Madame Auziere, a teacher who was 24 years his senior, at Lycee La Providence in Amiens. The teacher and her pupil had collaborated on the play The Art Of Comedy, by the Italian writer Eduardo De Filippo, every Friday night for months at the school, adapting it for all the students who wanted to take part. As the audience clapped before the curtain came down, the teenager took a bow and kissed his teacher on each cheek as she smiled with obvious delight, with the start of a love affair between Macron and Brigitte emerging. At the time, 39-year-old Brigitte was married to banker André-Louis Auzière, with whom she shares three children, with her eldest daughter Laurence, even in the same class as Macron. When their romance blossomed and caused a scandal in the province. Macron's parents then sent him to Paris to attend another school, but his desire to be with his teacher and pursuit of her remained. The teacher finally wed Macron - a civil servant in his late twenties at the time - in Le Touquet on 20 October 2007, after divorcing her estranged husband André-Louis Auzière the year before. On Monday, Macron 's office admitted that his wife hit him during an argument, after footage showed the First Lady appearing to push his face away as their plane touched down in Vietnam. Shocking video of the incident, shot by the Associated Press news agency in Hanoi on Sunday evening, shows the French President's plane door opening to reveal him. His wife Brigitte's arms then emerge from the left of the open doorway as she places both hands on her husband's face and gives it a shove. The viral video left many speechless but it sparked discussion among others about how the couple, who have a 24-year age gap, first met The president appeared startled but quickly recovers and turns to wave through the open door. She remained concealed by the aircraft body, making it impossible to see her facial expression or body language. The couple then proceed down the staircase for the official welcome by Vietnamese officials, though Brigitte Macron does not take her husband's offered arm. Macron's office initially denied the authenticity of the images, before they were confirmed as genuine. A close associate of the president later described the incident as a couple's harmless 'squabble.' Speaking to reporters in Hanoi today, Macron said that the incident had been overblown, insisting: 'I was bickering, or rather joking, with my wife. It's nothing.' Vietnam is the first stop on an almost week-long tour of Southeast Asia for Macron where he will pitch France as a reliable alternative to the United States and China.
