By Lucia Caporalini
A video showing French President Emmanuel Macron and his wife Brigitte Macron during an apparent altercation has gone viral, unleashing comments and speculation about the behind-the-curtain relationship between the politician and his wife.
In a video shot by the Associated Press news agency, Macron can be seen as he is about to get off a plane in Vietnam.
As he prepares to leave the aircraft, France’s First Lady Brigitte can partially be seen behind the plane’s door while she pushes her husband’s face.
Macron, seemingly surprised by the gesture, can be seen looking out and waving.
The French president on Sunday kicked off a trip to South Asia to strengthen the relationship between France and the Indo-Pacific.
In Hanoi, Macron commented on the incident by telling reporters that he and his wife were “joking around, as we do quite often”.
The two have been married since 2007. Brigitte Macron was a drama teacher and he was her pupil when the two first met in 1993
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‘Conspiracies’
Macron’s office initially downplayed the video and French news outlets reported that the video had been described as ‘fake news’, before confirming its truthfulness.
“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,” an Elysée official said.
Conspiracy theorists and political opponents quickly used the video to draw their own conclusions.
“Macron, blink twice if you need help,” a user wrote on X.
In Hanoi, the French president addressed the rumours by commenting: “It becomes a sort of disaster of planetary proposition, with everyone having their own theory about it.”
“It’s all a bit rubbish,” he noted.
“People use videos to spread a lot of nonsense.”
Macron was at the centre of another conspiracy theory just a few weeks ago.
Earlier this month, the politician was involved in another incident while he was on a train from Poland to Ukraine with UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer and German Chancellor Friedrich Merz.
In a viral video, Macron could be seen moving a small white object from a table while speaking to his colleagues.
Social media users quickly claimed the object was actually a bag of cocaine.
“This is a tissue. For blowing your nose.”
“When European unity becomes inconvenient, disinformation goes so far as to make a simple tissue look like drugs,” the Elysée said at the time.
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