Emmanuel Macron, the president of France, was “bickering” when his wife Brigitte gave him a shocking shove to the face.
Incredibly, when they arrived in Vietnam to begin a Southeast Asian tour, the door of the presidential plane opened to see Brigitte’s hands on Macron’s face. When the plane’s doors opened on Sunday night, footage taken at the Hanoi airport showed Macron standing inside the aircraft, sternly addressing his wife.
In a matter of seconds, Brigitte’s arms are visible, both of them lifted to Macron’s face in what looks to be a minor shove and blow.
As soon as the doors open, the French leader looks astonished and turns to wave at the sea of cameras at the bottom of the plane stairs.
Then, with Macron holding his wife’s arm, the couple exits the plane together and descends the stairs. Perhaps as a result of an explosive quarrel they might have had inside, she instead grabs for the walkway’s handrail for support.
The bickering couple’s video went viral overnight, despite Palais de l’Élysée’s initial denial that it was a hoax.
However, the clip’s authenticity was later verified by French media sources. Additionally, the Associated Press’s live stream makes the startling moment quite evident.
“Bickering” was the term used by an unidentified source close to the President.
They stated to BFMTV: “It was a moment when the president and his wife were unwinding one last time before the start of the trip by having a little fun.”
According to the same source, “it was a moment of complicity” that “wasn’t enough to give the conspiracy theorists more to chew”—a reference to the unfavourable coverage Russia has been spreading in the media.
The politician began dating his French literature instructor, who was a mother of three at the time, when he was just fifteen years old. Macron was in Hanoi to kick off a weeklong tour of Southeast Asia, which will include stops in Singapore and Indonesia.
Deepfakes and conspiracy theories have frequently targeted the French leader. In the past, he had to refute “false and fabricated” accusations that his wife was born a male, characterising the transgender claims as typical of online attacks on women that are nasty.
And when he was recently photographed travelling to Kyiv with Keir Starmer and Friedrich Merz of Germany, he criticised a phoney Russian allegation that he had a bag of cocaine on the table.
