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Topics: Emmanuel Macron, News, Politics, US News, World News
Rhianna Benson
Topics: Emmanuel Macron, News, Politics, US News, World News
Brigitte Macron hit global headlines earlier this week for appearing to 'slap' her husband, French president Emmanuel Macron, in the face during an official public outing.
This is far from the first time that 72-year-old Brigitte's name has been splashed across international front pages, however, with the early days of her marriage to Macron having been dogged with controversy.
Interestingly, though, the pair have never shied away from said scandal, with the French first lady having given an alarmingly honest about their relationship when interviewed by Elle Magazine in 2017.
For those unfamiliar with the political pair's unconventional love story, they first came face-to-face in 1993 in La Providence High School, where a then-39-year-old Brigitte worked as a teacher.
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She was also married to husband André-Louis Auzière, at the time, with whom she shared three children.
Macron was neither a fellow professor, however - 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.
According to Macron's biographer Anne Fulda, Brigitte told her friend: "You know, the day when we wrote the play together, I had a feeling I was working with Mozart.
“The writing became an excuse. I felt that we had always known each other.”
Alarmed at their closeness, Macron's parents subsequently sent him away to Paris for his final year in education, concerned about the almost 25-year age gap between the pair.
Following the President's 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.
Eight years ago, Elle Magazine sat down with the mother-of-three to quiz her on whether she feels at fault over the controversial romance.
"Not at all," she confessed. "Because Emmanuel’s only fault is to be younger than me! It’s a joke between us; we don’t waste one minute worrying about the age difference.
"And by the way, Emmanuel was never in my class. Any fool who claims that I used to read his poems and his homework is lying."
Brigitte was also asked if she attempted to 'resist' Macron during the dubious early days.
"Yes, I was the one who insisted that Emmanuel go to Paris to finish his schooling," she claimed. "There was nothing between us at that time, but the spiteful gossip was already making the rounds.
"My only concern was my children, Sébastien, Laurence, and Tiphaine. Not the rest of the world."
Brigitte went on to claim that the most difficult aspect of the beginnings of their relationship was the forced distance they retained until 2007.
"But we wrote to each other all the time during that period," she continued. "It all unfolded very slowly.
"I gradually brought my family to realise that. Emmanuel gradually brought his family to realise that."
Questions surrounding the couple's hotly-debated romance have arisen again following the release of footage of Macron seemingly being 'slapped' by Brigitte earlier this week.
In the video shared by the BBC, the couple could be seen stepping off their private plane as it landed in Hanoi, Vietnam for the first leg of their South East Asia tour, marking Macron's in his powerful position.
They can be seen waiting for the staircase to be readied, before Brigitte's arm suddenly comes into view, appearing to shove Macron in the face.
Despite appearing initially dismayed, Macron then proceeds to wave to the crowd.
His team later told reporters they'd simply been joking around, with France24 reporting he said: "We are horsing around and, really, joking with my wife."
The politician added: "It becomes a sort of geo-planetary catastrophe."