Macron
downplays spat with Brigitte caught on camera as ‘joking around’
Footage of
the French president and his wife appearing to have an altercation in Vietnam
went viral.
May 26, 2025
12:16 pm CET
By Clea
Caulcutt
French
President Emmanuel Macron dismissed a video of an apparent row with his wife
Brigitte as the two of them just “joking around.”
The footage
filmed Sunday appears to show Brigitte Macron lightly slapping or pushing her
husband in the face shortly before they disembark from a flight in Hanoi,
Vietnam. The French leader at first seems surprised then turns toward the
welcome delegation and waves. Before heading down the ramp, he appears to offer
his arm to his wife, which she did not take.
Asked about
the now-viral incident on Monday, Macron told reporters that it has been blown
out of proportion.
“So you see
a video that shows me squabbling, and joking around with my wife, and I’m
surprised about it. [It] becomes a sort of disaster of planetary proposition,
with everyone having their own theory about it,” he told journalists on the
sidelines of his visit.
“It’s all a
bit rubbish,” he added.
Several
French news outlets reported that Macron’s office initially dismissed the
video, which was filmed by The Associated Press, as fake news before
backtracking.
Social media
accounts hostile to Macron seized on the footage, which likely prompted the
Elysée’s reported initial denial.
One of
Macron’s aides, granted anonymity to discuss the incident, said that the images
were enough “to set off the conspiracy theorists.” A second adviser blamed
pro-Russian media for amplifying the video.
In recent
weeks, the Elysée Palace has adopted a much more proactive approach to tackling
fake news and disinformation on the internet.
Macron said
that while the footage was real, the response online had echoes of recent unfounded allegations leveled against the
French president, including that he was doing cocaine with European leaders on
a train to Kyiv or that he had a special handshake with Turkish President Recep
Tayyip Erdoğan.
“People use
videos to spread a lot of nonsense,” he added.
The Macrons
are on a five-day trip to Asia which takes them to Vietnam, Indonesia and
Singapore.
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