France’s President Emmanuel Macron and his team failed to pull the wool over the public’s eyes as a video of the leader and his wife in a tense moment went viral. The politician and his first lady, Brigitte Macron, seemed at odds as they exited a plane in Vietnam on May 25.
The media captured Emmanuel, 47, presumably exchanging words with his wife as he stood near the aircraft’s open door. At one point, Brigitte, 72, who was mostly shielded from cameras by the plane’s interior, reached out her hand and shoved her husband in the face.
Her forceful actions caused the French leader to step backward, though he quickly restored his composure as he smiled and waved at onlookers. The former schoolteacher emerged from the aircraft as Emmanuel prepared to descend the stairs.
One last attempt at a united front was foiled when Brigitte refused to hold his hand, instead opting to use the stair railing for stability. An online spectator commented, “There will be no way to down play this.”
There is something seriously off with this odd relationship. 😱👀👇 https://t.co/XvdJVc0Ync
— Donald's Angel (@donaldsangel) May 26, 2025
But a spokesperson for The Élysée, the president’s official residence, suggested the row “was a moment when the president and his wife were relaxing one last time before the start of the trip by having a laugh” and that “it was a moment of closeness.”
France’s leader acknowledged the controversial footage amid the uproar and failed smokescreen to downplay the lovers’ public tiff. He told Hanoi reporters on May 26, “There’s a video showing me joking and teasing my wife, and somehow that becomes a sort of geo-planetary catastrophe, with people even coming up with theories to explain it.”
He continued, “The videos are all real, and yes, sometimes people tamper with them, but people are attributing all kinds of nonsense to them.” Social media users disagreed with the narrative.
“Anyone with eyes can see what that was,” said one person, who, like several others, called it domestic abuse. A second reaction read, “This is what happens when an older woman teacher married her student!”
A third person stated, “He needs to divorce her now!”
His marriage is NO one else's business https://t.co/gTzRqn4905
— BrownSquirrel (@BrownSquirrel) September 21, 2017
Emmanuel and Brigitte met at La Providence High School when he was 15 years old and she was 39 years old. The then-future leader was a classmate of one of her daughters. At the time, the mother of three was married to André-Louis Auzière. They divorced in 2006.
The unconventional couple married in 2007 and do not share biological children. He became France’s youngest president in 2017.
