Gabriel García Márquez said that in life “one must be unfaithful, but never disloyal.” And precisely around that supposed disloyalty revolve the reasons that hover over the episode that, a year ago now, turned Brigitte Macron and Emmanuel Macron into involuntary protagonists of one of the most talked-about scenes in international politics, following a controversial slap that the French first lady gave to the president, and also husband, during an official trip to Vietnam.
The untimely incident occurred just upon landing in Hanoi. As the doors of the presidential plane opened, cameras captured how the French president’s wife placed her hands on the president’s face in a brusque gesture that caused him to step back a few centimeters before composing himself and greeting the press. The scene generated a worldwide wave of speculation about the relationship between the two and forced the Élysée to react quickly.
The leader himself tried to downplay what happened by assuring that they were “joking” before starting the official agenda in Vietnam. His administration also insisted that it was “a moment of complicity and relaxation” after a long trip. However, the explanations never fully convinced and the rumors about a couple that has always fascinated France for their idyllic love story and age difference continued for months.
Again, that surreal scene returns to the center of public conversation following the publication of Un couple (presque) parfait (An (almost) perfect couple), the book by Paris Match journalist Florian Tardif. In the account, the author claims that the first lady’s anger was related to messages exchanged between the French president and the Franco-Iranian actress Golshifteh Farahani.
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As Tardif explained on the RTL radio station, Macron would have maintained a “platonic” relationship with the actress, although with conversations that “went quite far.” Among the messages that Brigitte supposedly read was a phrase especially delicate for the couple. “I find you very beautiful.” For the journalist, more than the specific content of those words, what would have hurt the first lady was “the possibility” of an emotional complicity outside the marriage.
The author insists that there was never a physical relationship between the two and assures that, after the plane episode, the French president would have cut off contact with the actress, known for films such as Paterson, Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales and Tyler Rake.
From Brigitte’s circle, this version has been categorically denied. Sources close to the president’s wife assure that she “never looks at her husband’s phone,” an explanation that would also have been conveyed to the book’s author. For her part, Farahani had already previously rejected the rumors linking her romantically with Macron.
