A lip reader has decoded what French President Emmanuel Macron said to his wife, Brigitte, after she appeared to shove him in the face.
Footage from Sunday (May 25) shows Brigitte placing both hands on her husband's face and pushing him after the couple arrived in the Vietnamese capital, Hanoi—sparking speculation about possible tension in their marriage.
Highlights
- Lip-reading and body language experts believe Brigitte Macron’s interaction with her husband was far from playful.
- The French First Lady was seen appearing to shove Emmanuel Macron after they landed in Vietnam for a state visit.
- The exchange “hints at deeper tensions between the couple,” one lip reader suggested.
The French leader quickly composed himself, realizing they were being filmed, and waved to members of the press standing on the tarmac.
Speaking with The Express, the lip reader said: "Emmanuel steps closer to Brigitte before composing himself and crossing to the other side. Moments later, he signals for her to follow him with, 'Let's go.'"
A lip reader has analyzed what Emmanuel Macron and Brigitte said to each other after the plane incident
Image credits: emmanuelmacron / Instagram
"He thanks the pilot and waves at the cameras, trying to recover the public-facing image.
"But at the top of the stairs, things turn icy again. He offers his arm; she ignores it, clinging to the railing instead. As she passes, she appears to mutter, 'Dégage, espèce de loser,' translated in English, 'Stay away, you loser.'"
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The expert claims Macron asked Brigitte to make an effort to set their alleged tension aside in front of the camera, saying, "Essayons, s'il te plaît," which translates to, "Let's try, please."
She responded, "Non."
"His closing expression and the phrase lipread as 'Je vois,' translated in English 'I see,' says it all," the lip reader continued.
A video captured on Sunday shows the French First Lady pushing her husband with both hands on his face
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The expert believes the footage shows "a rare unguarded exchange that hints at deeper tensions between the couple."
"One to watch, especially with a packed diplomatic schedule ahead."
The French president's office initially denied the authenticity of the footage, claiming it had been generated using artificial intelligence by one of the country's geopolitical rivals.
However, they eventually confirmed it was real but downplayed the incident as a playful "joke" between the couple.
The lip reader claims Macron asked Brigitte to set their alleged tension aside in front of the camera, saying, "Let's try, please"
Image credits: emmanuelmacron / Instagram
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"We are squabbling and, rather, joking with my wife," Macron said on Monday (May 26). "Everyone needs to calm down."
He further claimed that the footage was being blown out of proportion and made into "a sort of geo-planetary catastrophe."
"People are saying all sorts of nonsense," the 47-year-old head of state said.
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Meanwhile, a source close to the president claimed the couple was simply "decompressing" ahead of their tour in south-east Asia.
"It was a moment when the president and his wife were decompressing one last time before the start of the trip by joking around," the insider said. "It's a moment of togetherness. No more was needed to feed the mills of the conspiracy theorists."
The couple, married since 2007, first met in 1993 when Brigitte was a 39-year-old high school teacher, and Emmanuel was her 15-year-old student.
Macron downplayed the incident, claiming he and Brigitte were just "joking"
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According to body language expert Judi James, the duo wasn't merely joking around when they landed in Hanoi.
"I would not describe the gesture we saw from inside the plane as one of 'play' as has been claimed," James told The Daily Mail, adding that there were no additional gestures suggesting that Macron and Brigitte had been playful in the moments leading up to it.
"There is no follow-up shared laughter, grins or teasing rituals," James explained.
"Macron performs a 'think-on-your-feet' wave before stepping back in towards his wife, but he seems to touch his face too, in a checking gesture."
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James believes the shove would have drawn attention regardless of the couple's public profile.
"This will inevitably be turned into a 'joke' by some people, but I would call it genuinely shocking, and I would say the same if it was any other couple walking down any street, no matter who did it to who."
Moreover, the expert suggests the incident would have raised greater concern had the roles been reversed.
"If this had been his hand and her face, would it have been called 'playful?' So it should not from her to him."
The French leader said the footage was being blown out of proportion and made into "a sort of geo-planetary catastrophe"
Image credits: Jean Catuffe / Getty Images
James concluded, "Pushing your partner in the face with your hand so hard their head reels to the side and they need to put a hand out to keep balance (...) should not be normalized by calling it 'fun' just to save political face."
The couple’s relationship has been the subject of controversy from the start, largely due to their 24-year age gap.
Emmanuel Macron and Brigitte met when he was 15 and she was 39
Image credits: France 3
The French leader, who is serving his second presidential term, was just 15 years old — the age of consent in France — in 1993 when he met Brigitte Auzière, a 39-year-old literature and drama teacher, at the Catholic Lycee La Providence in Amiens, where he was a classmate of her eldest daughter, Laurence.
As per Maelle Brun's biography Brigitte Macron: An Unfettered Woman, the first lady's family found out about the romance when they saw the pair sunbathing around the pool of her parent's home.
Image credits: France 3
Macron's parents reportedly sent him to boarding school when they realized he was seeing his teacher.
"Emmanuel had to leave for Paris," Brigitte told Paris Match. "I told myself that he would fall in love with someone his [own] age. It didn't happen."
At the time, Brigitte was married to banker André-Louis Auzière, with whom she shares three children. She divorced Auzière in 2006 and married Macron the following year.
Macron wrote that his romance with his former teacher was "often clandestine, often hidden, misunderstood by many before imposing itself"
Image credits: France 3
In his memoir, Revolution, Macron described his relationship with Brigitte as "a love often clandestine, often hidden, misunderstood by many before imposing itself."
In a 2017 interview with CNN, the president said that his relationship is a big part of the "balance" in his life.
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"Love is part of my life and my balance," he shared. "I do believe that you don't build something great and you don't behave properly if you're not balanced and a strong couple. I've been with my wife for decades now, and she's part of me."
People debated whether the push was playful or a sign of more serious issues in their marriage
