Topline
French President Emmanuel Macron dismissed a video of his wife appearing to push his face away while departing a plane as “joking around,” after the clip went viral on social media Monday morning and became a hotbed for conspiracy theories.
Video captured Monday appears to show Emmanuel Macron’s wife Brigette shoving him while on a plane. … More
Key Facts
Macron, who arrived in Vietnam with his wife, Brigette Macron, on Monday, told reporters he was “squabbling and joking around with my wife,” stating he is “surprised” the video became a “disaster of planetary proposition with everyone having their own theory about it.”
In the video, captured by the Associated Press, Macron can be seen standing inside the plane alongside a second person who is initially not visible, whose arms reach out and appear to push Macron by his face, as the president then takes several steps back.
Immediately after the apparent push, Macron turns to face the outside of the plane and breaks into a smile and waves, possibly noticing the reporters and cameras.
Macron acknowledged the video was real while speaking with reporters, though multiple outlets reported his office initially denied the incident had happened.
The video was circulated online by social media accounts, many of whom appear to be European and American right-wing profiles that are typically critical of Macron, who used the incident to question his relationship with his wife or to attack his masculinity.
Who Is Brigette Macron?
Emmanuel Macron, 47, has been married to Brigette Macron, 72, since 2007. The two met in 1993 while Emmanuel Macron was a student at Lycée la Providence, the high school where Brigette Macron was his teacher. Their relationship has been the subject of gossip in the French press, and Macron’s parents attempted to separate him from Brigette while he was in high school by sending him to another school for his final year. Brigette Macron resigned from her teaching position once her husband became France’s economy minister, and she played an active role in her husband’s presidential campaign.
Key Background
While addressing reporters Monday, Macron said the clip was one of several recent videos of him used to fuel misinformation. Last week, a video of Macron with German Chancellor Friedrich Merz and British Prime Minister Keir Starmer depicted Macron picking up a white object, which was a tissue, though false theories spread on social media that the object was a bag of cocaine. Macron’s office denounced the theories in a post on X, alleging they were being “spread by France’s enemies” and that social media users must “remain vigilant against manipulation.”
Tangent
In Hanoi, Vietnam, on Monday, Macron met with Vietnamese President Luong Cuong and signed deals worth about $10 billion on defense, transportation, nuclear energy and other contracts as Macron advocated for greater cooperation between France and its former colony at “a time of both great imbalance and a return to power-driven rhetoric.” The visit was the first to Vietnam by a French leader in nearly a decade. While in southeast Asia, Macron will next visit Singapore and Indonesia.
Further Reading
France’s first lady seems to push her husband as they land in Vietnam. He says they were joking (Associated Press)
Source: https://www.forbes.com/sites/conormurray/2025/05/26/emmanuel-macron-says-he-and-his-wife-were-joking-around-as-video-of-apparent-shove-sparks-conspiracy-theories/