Did Brigette Macron Shove Emmanuel Macron? He Says He And Wife Were ‘Joking Around’ In Viral Video
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Emmanuel Macron says video of wife pushing him shows them ‘joking around’
Emmanuel Macron denies he and his wife, Brigitte, had an altercation. A viral video appeared to show her pushing him in the face as they prepared to get off a plane in Vietnam. The video, shot by an Associated Press camera operator, shows the French president appearing in the doorway of the plane at the start of a visit to Hanoi. His wife’s hand appears to shove him, causing him to step back before recovering and waving. Macron “loves playing jokes like on his wife before official occasions, and she always responds like this … It wasn’t even a slap,” he said. France and Vietnam on Monday signed deals on Airbus planes, defence and other pacts worth €9bn (£7.55bn)
The video, shot by an Associated Press camera operator, shows the French president appearing in the doorway of the plane at the start of a visit to Hanoi. His wife’s hand appears to shove him, causing him to step back before recovering and waving.
Brigitte Macron’s body is not visible and her husband told reporters afterwards the gesture was playful. But the Russian foreign ministry spokesperson, Maria Zakharova, seized on the footage, writing on Telegram that the president had received “a right hook”.
“Did the first lady decide to cheer up her husband with a gentle pat on the cheek and miscalculated her strength?” she asked in a mocking post. “Did she want to fix his collar but ended up reaching the beloved face?” Zakharova added, after the Russia Today TV channel and associated social media accounts had repeatedly aired the clip. “Here’s a hint: maybe it was the ‘hand of the Kremlin’.”
Macron told reporters in Hanoi he and his wife were “joking around, as we do quite often”. An Élysée Palace official told French media the scene showed “a moment of closeness. But that was enough to feed the conspiracy theorists.”
Another Elysée source said the couple were “decompressing one last time before the start of the visit, larking around”. Macron “loves playing jokes like on his wife before official occasions, and she always responds like this … It wasn’t even a slap.”
View image in fullscreen The Macrons take part in a wreath-laying ceremony at the Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum in Hanoi on Monday. Photograph: Jeanne Accorsini/SIPA/Shutterstock
Macron noted that other videos of him had been misinterpreted. People “have thought I shared a bag of cocaine, tussled with the Turkish president, now that I’m having a domestic dispute with my wife … None of this is true. Everyone needs to calm down,” he said.
Zakharova and the US conspiracy theorist Alex Jones this month wrongly accused Macron, the German chancellor, Friedrich Merz, and the British prime minister, Keir Starmer, of using drugs on a train to Kyiv, claiming a crumpled tissue was a bag of cocaine.
Macron told reporters in Hanoi the internet accounts making the claims were “familiar”, allying Russians with French extremists, adding that commentators had “explained this morning that my diplomacy was that of a battered husband”.
France and Vietnam on Monday signed deals on Airbus planes, defence and other pacts worth €9bn (£7.55bn) as the Macrons embarked on the first formal visit by a French presidential couple to the country’s former colony in nearly a decade.
The deals with Vietnam come amid trade turmoil prompted by Donald Trump’s US tariffs and cover the purchase of 20 Airbus planes, cooperation on nuclear energy, defence, rail and maritime transport, satellites and vaccines.
Emmanuel Macron’s wife shoves French president’s face, refuses to hold arms in Vietnam visit
French President Emmanuel Macron’s wife, Brigitte, shoved her husband in the face as the couple touched down in Hanoi, Vietnam, for a state visit. The couple was trying to walk down from the plane, when it was opened, after arriving in Vietnam to begin a Southeast Asian tour on Sunday. Mr Macron said his wife had just been joking around, describing the video clip circulated online as overblown. A close associate of the president earlier described the incident as a couple’s harmless “squabble”
The moment came as the couple was trying to walk down from the plane, when it was opened, after arriving in Vietnam to begin a Southeast Asian tour on Sunday.
His wife’s arms emerged from the left of the open doorway of the plane as she placed both hands on Mr Macron’s face and gave it a shove, according to a report by CBS on Monday.
The French resident appeared startled but quickly recovered and turned to wave through the plane’s open door.
Mrs Brigitte remained concealed by the aircraft’s body, making it impossible to see her facial expression or body language.
But as they proceeded down the staircase for the official welcome by Vietnamese officials, Mrs Brigitte refused to hold Mr Macron’s hand offered to her.
The French president and his office tried to downplay the incident on Monday despite a viral video clip, which promoted particularly the accounts that are habitually hostile to the French leader.
Mr Macron said his wife had just been joking around, describing the video clip circulated online as overblown.
“We are horsing around and, really, joking with my wife. It becomes a sort of geo-planetary catastrophe,” he said.
A close associate of the president earlier described the incident as a couple’s harmless “squabble.”
A source in the entourage of the French president also played down the significance of the incident.
“It was a moment when the president and his wife were decompressing one last time before the start of the trip by joking around.
“It’s a moment of togetherness. No more was needed to feed the mills of the conspiracy theorists,” he said.
He also blamed pro-Russian accounts for negative comments about the incident.
In 2007, Mr Macron married his wife after they met when he was still in high school while Mrs Brigitte was a teacher.
French President Macron denies ‘domestic dispute’ with wife after viral plane video
Macron’s office downplays incident in which his wife appeared to push his face away. They were “joking as we often do’, he told reporters in Hanoi. Other videos had been misinterpreted as showing him sharing a bag of cocaine or confronting the Turkish president, he said. He is in Vietnam as part of a week-long trip to Southeast Asia, including Indonesia and Singapore. The incident was captured on a camera attached to the president’s plane.
French President Emmanuel Macron denied on Monday any “domestic dispute” with his wife, Brigitte, after a video appeared to show her shoving his face away as they arrived in Vietnam for a diplomatic visit.
They were “joking as we often do”, he told reporters in Hanoi, adding that other videos had been misinterpreted as showing him sharing a bag of cocaine or confronting the Turkish president.
“None of these are true,” he said, and “everyone needs to calm down”.
His office on Monday also downplayed on incident in which his wife appeared to push his face away.
Footage shot by the Associated Press news agency in Hanoi on Sunday evening shows Macron’s plane door opening to reveal him.
His wife Brigitte’s arms emerge from the left of the open doorway, she places both hands on her husband’s face and gives it a shove.
The president appears startled but quickly recovers and turns to wave through the open door.
She remains concealed by the aircraft body, making it impossible to see her facial expression or body language.
The couple proceed down the staircase for the official welcome by Vietnamese officials, though Brigitte Macron does not take her husband’s offered arm.
Macron’s office initially denied the authenticity of the images, before they were confirmed as genuine.
A close associate of the president later described the incident as a couple’s harmless “squabble”.
Another member of his entourage played down the significance of the incident.
“It was a moment when the president and his wife were decompressing one last time before the start of the trip by joking around,” the second source told reporters.
“It’s a moment of togetherness. No more was needed to feed the mills of the conspiracy theorists,” the source added, blaming pro-Russian accounts for negative comments about the incident.
Vietnam is the first stop on an almost week-long tour of Southeast Asia for Macron where he will pitch France as a reliable alternative to the United States and China.
He will also visit Indonesia and Singapore.
AFP
Watch video below
‘Just joking’: Macron denies dispute with wife, blames disinformation
Macron blames disinformation campaigns for trying to put false meaning on the footage. The Elysee had been hoping that the visit to Vietnam would showcase France’s reach into the Indo-Pacific. It is the third time this month that Macron has been the subject of viral video footage. France says it is being targeted by repeated disinformation attacks as Russia steps up attacks on Ukraine. It was falsely claimed Macron took cocaine on a trip to Kyiv alongside British Prime Minister Keir Starmer and German Chancellor Friedrich Merz. Images also emerged purporting to show Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan dominate the French leader in a handshake. Macron said: “My wife and I were squabbling, we were rather joking, and I was taken by surprise,” he said. The video circulated rapidly online, promoted particularly by accounts that are habitually hostile to the French president. Macron is on a week-long tour of Southeast Asia. He will also visit Indonesia and Singapore.
French President Emmanuel Macron denied Monday having a domestic dispute with his wife Brigitte after a video appeared to show her shoving his face away when they touched down for a visit to Vietnam, blaming disinformation campaigns for trying to put false meaning on the footage.
The Elysee had been hoping that the visit to Vietnam would showcase France’s reach into the Indo-Pacific, but it has been shadowed by the incident which occurred as the doors of the presidential plane swung open after landing in Hanoi Sunday.
This is the third time this month that Macron has been the subject of viral video footage at a time when France says it is being targeted by repeated disinformation attacks as Russia steps up attacks on Ukraine.
It was falsely claimed Macron took cocaine on a trip to Kyiv alongside British Prime Minister Keir Starmer and German Chancellor Friedrich Merz and images also emerged purporting to show Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan dominate the French leader in a handshake.
Brigitte sticks out both her hands and gives her husband’s face a shove, according to footage shot by the Associated Press news agency.
The French president appears startled but quickly recovers and turns to wave through the open door. But with most of her body hidden by the aircraft, it is impossible to see his wife’s facial expression or body language.
“My wife and I were squabbling, we were rather joking, and I was taken by surprise,” he said.
Now it’s “become a kind of planetary catastrophe, and some are even coming up with theories,” Macron told reporters.
– ‘Calm down’ –
Macron testily referred to the other incidents, including the images shot on a train to Kyiv where some accounts falsely claimed he shared cocaine with Merz and Starmer.
But the object Macron removed from the table when the media entered was a tissue.
Erdogan, meanwhile, was filmed holding the president’s finger at a summit.
“For three weeks… there are people who have watched videos and think I shared a bag of cocaine, that I had a fight with the Turkish president, and that now I’m having a domestic dispute with my wife,” said Macron.
“None of these are true,” he said.
“Everyone needs to calm down,” he added.
After the incident in Hanoi, the couple proceeded down the staircase for the official welcome by Vietnamese officials, though Brigitte Macron did not take her husband’s arm when he offered it.
The video circulated rapidly online, promoted particularly by accounts that are habitually hostile to the French leader.
Macron’s office initially denied the authenticity of the images, before they were confirmed as genuine. A close associate of the president later described the incident as a couple’s harmless “squabble”.
– ‘Nothing more’ –
Referring to the past incidents, Macron said: “In these three videos I took a tissue, shook someone’s hand and just joked with my wife, as we do quite often. Nothing more.”
“We have loads of accounts, anonymous or not, whose frustrations are going to their heads, including news commentators who said this morning that I have the diplomacy of a beaten man,” he added.
He emphasised that all three videos were “completely authentic” but the meanings attached to them were not.
Vietnam is the first stop on Macron’s almost week-long tour of Southeast Asia where he will pitch France as a reliable alternative to the United States and China.
He will also visit Indonesia and Singapore.
The relationship between Macron, 47, and his 72-year-old wife has long been a subject of fascination at home and abroad.
She was a drama teacher and he a pupil when they met at a private school in their hometown of Amiens in northeast France. A mother of three children, Brigitte divorced her husband and began a relationship with Macron while he was in his late teens.
A high-profile first lady, she has taken legal action to counter false claims on social media about her gender.
Agence France-Presse
Did Brigette Macron Push Emmanuel? Viral Video Sparks Controversy and Laughter!
French President Emmanuel Macron dismissed a viral video showing his wife seemingly pushing him away as playful joking. This incident has sparked widespread speculation and conspiracy theories online. The reactions to the video reveal how easily misinformation spreads, especially concerning public figures. Consider these points:Social media amplifies misunderstandings, often leading to conspiracy theories.Public figures face intense scrutiny, making them vulnerable to misinterpretation.
www.forbes.com
French President Emmanuel Macron recently addressed a viral video showing his wife, Brigitte Macron, seemingly pushing his face away as they departed a plane. This incident, which occurred on May 26, 2025, has sparked widespread speculation and conspiracy theories online.
6 Key Takeaways Macron dismisses video as playful joking.
Viral clip sparked conspiracy theories online.
Macron’s office initially denied the incident.
Right-wing profiles circulated the video widely.
Macron and Brigitte married since 2007.
Macron signed $10 billion deals in Vietnam.
Macron dismissed the video, stating it was simply a moment of “joking around” with his wife. He expressed surprise at the intense reactions, calling it a “disaster of planetary proposition” that has led to various interpretations of their relationship.
Fast Answer: Emmanuel Macron’s lighthearted moment with Brigitte sparked global speculation, highlighting how social media can distort reality in today’s interconnected world.
This incident raises questions about the impact of social media on public perception. Can a fleeting moment be blown out of proportion? The reactions to the video reveal how easily misinformation spreads, especially concerning public figures. Consider these points:
Social media amplifies misunderstandings, often leading to conspiracy theories.
Public figures face intense scrutiny, making them vulnerable to misinterpretation.
Humor can be misread, especially in the political arena.
This incident underscores the importance of critical thinking in the age of social media, where context can easily be lost.
As we navigate this digital landscape, it’s crucial to approach viral content with skepticism and seek clarity before jumping to conclusions.