Footage has been released showing the moment French President Emmanuel Macron was shoved in the face by his wife, Brigitte Macron.
The video was taken by The Associated Press news agency and confirmed by the president and his office, who both said the clip showed the couple “horsing around.”
Why It Matters
The couple landed in Vietnam on Sunday as the first stop on a weeklong tour of Southeast Asia, before they carry on to Indonesia and Singapore.
The French president is there for meetings in a region he described as a “key crossroads of global trade” to show “France is present and acting with its partners.”
But headlines have instead been dominated by the clip of Brigitte Macron pushing her husband’s face with both hands.
The couple have long attracted public scrutiny, as the French first lady, 72, was a married mother-of-three when she met Emmanuel Macron, 47, at his then high school, where she was a teacher and a supervisor of the drama club of which her now-husband was a member.
France’s President Emmanuel Macron and his wife Brigitte Macron pose for photos at the Presidential Palace in Hanoi, Vietnam on Monday, May 26, 2025. France’s President Emmanuel Macron and his wife Brigitte Macron pose for photos at the Presidential Palace in Hanoi, Vietnam on Monday, May 26, 2025. AP
What To Know
Emmanuel and Brigitte Macron landed in Hanoi, Vietnam, on Sunday evening, when the now-viral clip was filmed.
It shows a man in uniform opening the plane door to reveal the president before an arm in a red sleeve reaches out from a part of the plane that is out of view and pushes his face.
Emmanuel Macron turned his head away and then, appearing to realize he was in view of cameras, smiled and waved.
After this scene, the president and his wife, who was wearing a red jacket, descended down the stairs from the plane. The French leader appeared to offer his arm to his wife, but she did not take it.
📱 “Un moment de complicité” entre Emmanuel et Brigitte #Macron.
✋ L’Élysée a voulu désamorcer la polémique après que des images très relayées sur les réseaux sociaux ont montré le président français recevoir une main au visage de la part de son épouse pic.twitter.com/l4eCTzaS2G
— FRANCE 24 Français (@France24_fr) May 26, 2025
The term “Emmanuel Macron” is currently trending on X, with multiple outlets and accounts sharing the clip, garnering tens of thousands of views.
The president has responded, saying: “We are horsing around and, really, joking with my wife. It becomes a sort of geo-planetary catastrophe.”
Similarly, his office said: “It was a moment where the president and his wife were decompressing one last time before the start of the trip by horsing around. It’s a moment of complicity. It was all that was needed to give ammunition to the conspiracy theorists.”
What People Are Saying
Emmanuel Macron posted on X about his current Southeast Asia tour: “It is in this region of the Indo-Pacific that part of our future, for all of us, French women and men, is being played out.
“I come here to strengthen our ties in essential areas: defense, innovation, energy transition, cultural exchanges,” he added.
What Happens Next
Although Emmanuel Macron and his office have downplayed the incident, it is still being discussed at length on social media. It remains to be seen if his “horsing around” explanation will assuage interest or whether the couple will have to address what happened again.
