French President Emmanuel Macron and his wife Brigitte Macron landed in Vietnam this past Sunday to kick off a tour of Southeast Asia—but it wasn’t the arrival itself that drew attention. It was what happened right after.
In a video circulating in the media, Brigitte appears to shove Macron in the face as they prepare to exit the presidential plane.
Macron quickly recovers, giving a wave to the cameras, and proceeds down the stairs with his wife without incident.
While speculation immediately began, Macron dismissed the incident entirely. “I was bickering, or rather joking, with my wife,” he told reporters in Hanoi. “It’s nothing.”
But online, people aren’t so sure
A post on r/popculturechat sparked a heated thread, with users questioning the Macron relationship as a whole.
“You know, I’ve seen multiple TV shows (Emily in Paris and of course I’m now forgetting the other one) where people acted like Brigitte Macron was this exciting tastemaker that characters were excited about, and I do not get it,” one person wrote. “Everything I know about her creeps me out… Is her office trying to get people to act like she’s cool to help her image?”
Another commenter said the body language didn’t feel like a joke at all.
“Oh my god… at first I thought they were joking around, but Macron’s face—he looked super annoyed,” they wrote. “This relationship is weird af, Brigitte is giving me the ick.”
And some took it a step further.
“Their entire relationship is absolutely foul and based on abuse,” another use wrote. “The way he snapped back to smiling? We’ve seen that happen a million times. There’s arguing with your spouse and trying to act like everything is fine—and then there’s being assaulted and pretending nothing happened.”
A fourth commenter found the incident troublesome and indicative of something worse.
“Looks like she lunged at him, both her hands smash into his face. Seems more violent than “just” a slap,” they wrote. “To do it so brazenly and openly as well I imagine it’s not the first time.”
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