Cameras caught what appeared to be a heated exchange between French President Emmanuel Macron and his wife, Brigitte Macron.
Before exiting the presidential plane after arriving in Hanoi, Vietnam on Sunday, May 25, as part of the pair’s official Southeast Asia tour, Brigitte was seen pushing her husband in the face.
According to one French outlet, two arms in red sleeves matching Brigitte’s outfit reached out and pushed the president away, with one hand covering his mouth and part of his nose while the other made contact with his jawbone.
In videos that quickly circulated online and were shared by multiple media outlets, including the BBC, the president appeared to be stunned by the exchange. He quickly composed himself, however, and flashed a smile to the cameras before the pair walked down the plane’s steps together and side by side.
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Reporters noted that the president offered his wife his arm while walking down the stairs, but she did not take it. Instead, photos show the pair walking alongside one another, holding their respective railings.
After initially denying what was seen in various clips and images, the Élysée Palace downplayed the innocent, calling it a moment of reprieve for the couple — who have been married since 2007 — before embarking on an official outing.
“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,” one palace official said, per Reuters. “It was a moment of closeness.”
President Macron also publicly addressed the situation, per BBC, telling reporters he and his wife were “just joking about, as we do.”
“We are horsing around and, really, joking with my wife,” he said, per the French outlet France 24, adding that he believes the entire incident has been overblown to the point it “becomes a sort of geo-planetary catastrophe.”
“Everyone needs to calm down,” he continued.
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The French president and his wife are no stranger to controversy, thanks to their 24-year-age gap. Emmanuel was just 15 when he met Brigitte — who at the time was a 39-year-old Catholic school drama teacher and married mother of three — and started to develop romantic feelings for her.
“For me, such a young boy was crippling,” the French first lady told Paris Match in a 2023 interview about their age gap relationship, adding that she assumed her now-husband would “fall in love with someone his [own] age” once he left for Paris.
“It didn’t happen,” she recalled.
Brigitte eventually moved to Paris, divorced her former husband and married Emmanuel 10 years before he became the president of France.
