When French President Emmanuel Macron and First Lady Brigitte Macron landed in Hanoi, Vietnam this week, all eyes should have been on their diplomatic agenda.
Instead, a jarring viral moment captured the attention of millions—Brigitte seemingly shoving her husband in the face on the airport tarmac.
Videos of the physical exchange reignited global scrutiny on the couple’s relationship, with netizens accusing the First Lady of grooming, manipulation, and double-standards.
“She met him when he was 15. This wouldn’t be tolerated if it was the other way around,” one user wrote.
Emmanuel and Brigitte Macron’s relationship is under renewed scrutiny after she allegedly shoved him in the face at the airport
Image credits: Eric BERACASSAT / Getty
The roots of the Macrons’ relationship stretch back to 1993, when Emmanuel, a 15-year-old student, met 39-year-old Brigitte Auzière, his drama and literature teacher at the Catholic Lycee La Providence in Amiens.
Brigitte was already the mother of three children and married to banker André-Louis Auzière at the time.
Image credits: Edward Berthelot / Getty
Their stark age difference has been a constant source of scrutiny and debate ever since Macron became President in 2017.
Various figures talked to local media at the time to defend the couple, painting Macron as a man “wise beyond his years,” and Brigitte as an irresistible woman full of energy and vitality.
“At 15, Macron had the maturity of a 25-year-old,” said his former sports teacher, Daniel Leleu. “He preferred to spend his time talking with the teachers rather than his classmates.”
Image credits: emmanuelmacron
The scandal went beyond the 24-year age gap. It brought questions about power, proximity, and timing. Brigitte, then Madame Auzière, was not only his teacher but the mother of one of his classmates, Laurence.
The affair was reportedly revealed to Brigitte’s family in the summer of 1994, when they discovered the pair sunbathing at her parents’ home.
According to Maulle Brun’s biography Brigitte Macron: An Unfettered Woman, the fallout was swift and brutal: locals spat on her door, anonymous letters denouncing the relationship were sent to her family’s macaron factory, and lifelong friends cut ties overnight.
“From one day to the next, her friends with whom she was planning a vacation refused to speak to her,” Brun wrote.
Viewers have called various aspects of the relationship and the way it began into question
Image credits: emmanuelmacron
Now, decades later, the couple’s recent altercation in Vietnam is creating the same kind of scrutiny but among new generations—particularly Gen Z—who have begun to question the foundations of the Macron marriage.
“I just read the comments and found out that they were teacher and student, and that [they met] when he was 15?!” one user wrote.
“Not just the age gap,” another added. “More than that, the fact that she was his teacher when he was just a kid is disturbing.”
Critics have accused Brigitte of “grooming” Macron, alleging that if the genders were reversed, neither the relationship nor the airport shoving would have been tolerated.
“If a 39-year-old male teacher began dating his 15-year-old female student and married her years later, society would rightly be outraged,” a viewer argued.
Rumors and gossip have surrounded the Macrons ever since their relationship went public
Image credits: France 3
Detractors, seeing how the relationship was covered in a very positive light by local media and political campaigns despite its troubling implications, started spreading the idea that the relationship was a farce—and that Emmanuel was secretly gay.
Around 2017, it was rumored that the French President was living a double life, and that he had a relationship with, at the time, the head of the state-run radio station Radio France, Mathieu Gallet.
Image credits: France 3
The rumors got so loud that Emmanuel was forced to address them publicly, swatting them away with a mix of humor and thinly-veiled irritation.
“Those who want to spread the idea that I am a fake, that I have hidden lives or something else, first of all, it's unpleasant for Brigitte,” he told supporters at the time.
“She shares my whole life from morning till night and she wonders on a basic level how I could physically do anything!” he joked.
Image credits: Bertrand Rindoff Petroff/Getty
He then addressed the Mathieu Gallet gossip directly by saying, “If over dinners in the city, if on forwarded emails, you're told that I have a double life with Mathieu Gallet or anyone else, it's my hologram that suddenly escaped.”
More recently, right-wing commentator Candace Owens has stood firm on her theory that Brigitte Macron is actually transgender. The rumor is not new, and was first spread by journalist Natacha Rey, who was later sued by Brigitte herself.
International outlets have noticed that videos of the incident disappeared from French outlets just 24 hours after it went viral
Image credits: https://www.flickr.com/photos/whitehouse45/48616787447/
Following the Hanoi incident, Macron released a statement downplaying the shove. The French President said it was all part of a “squabble,” and that they were “joking.”
“Everyone needs to calm down,” he said.
The timing couldn’t have been worse for Macron. Analysts have pointed out that his government is in turmoil due to a series of developments that weaken his grasp on power.
Image credits: emmanuelmacron
For instance, a no-confidence vote in December toppled Prime Minister Michel Barnier’s minority government—a direct blow to President Macron’s authority and agenda. The incident was also historic, as it marks the first successful no-confidence vote in the country since 1962.
The ousting was orchestrated by a coalition of far-left, left, and far-right members of parliament, which are united only in their opposition to Macron’s policies.
At the same time, France’s Court of Auditors issued a stark warning about the country’s ballooning social security expenditures.
The report highlighted a looming liquidity crisis in the welfare system, with deficits spiraling out of control due to rising healthcare costs and aging demographics.
"Unacceptable." Netizens took to social media to share their thoughts on the viral clip
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