Topics: Emmanuel Macron, Donald Trump, US News, Politics
Emmanuel Macron has been in the headlines recently following a shocking viral video that appeared to show his wife Brigitte ‘slapping’ him before they stepped off a plane.
For those who need a reminder, the now-viral incident took place on Sunday (25 May) when Macron, 47 and Brigitte, 72, touched down in Hanoi, Vietnam, to begin their southeast Asia tour.
Footage from the Associated Press shows the President of France standing by the aircraft’s exit as workers opened the door.
Then, in the moment that his since been dubbed ‘Le Slap,’ a hand believed to be Brigitte's suddenly comes into view and appears to make contact with his face.
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A few moments later, the first lady walks out behind him and the pair descend the stairs onto the runway.
As the clip circulated online, an Elysee official told Reuters: "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. It was a moment of closeness.”
And Macron himself confirmed: "We are bickering and joking with my wife, and a video becomes a sort of geoplanetary catastrophe."
But, despite the attempts to downplay the moment, the world has of course stuck their noses in and everyone has been offering up their own opinions - with a lip reader and body language expert claiming to offer insight as to what went on behind the scenes.
Donald Trump has also made sure to share some friendly marriage advice with the fellow world leader.
During a press conference in the Oval Office, one reporter asked: “There was a video of the First Lady of France slapping her husband, Emmanuel Macron. Do you have any world leader-to-world leader marital advice?”
Trump joked: “Make sure the door remains closed," before admitting that it was ‘not good’.
The President explained: "I spoke to him and he's fine, they're fine. [They're] two very good people.”
He added: “I know them really well, I know him really well, and they're fine."
It’s not the first time the couple have drawn attention when it comes to their unique relationship.
Their love story is not the most conventional as they first came face-to-face in 1993 in La Providence High School, where a then-39-year-old Brigitte worked as a teacher.
She was also married to husband André-Louis Auzière, at the time, with whom she shared three children.
Macron was neither a colleague nor the parent of one of the pupils. He was a 15-year-old high school student.
According to the couple, their relationship never crossed the line while they attended the school together, with Brigitte never teaching the then-teenager directly and the pair connecting while co-authoring a school play together.
Alarmed at their closeness, Macron's parents sent him away to Paris for his final year in education, concerned about the almost 25-year age gap between the pair.
Following his graduation, Macron and Brigitte were reunited. She divorced Auzière, and married her considerably younger lover in 2007, when he was 29 and she was 54.
