French President Macron denies dispute with wife, blames disinformation
By Jeffrey Agbo
French President Emmanuel Macron on Monday dismissed claims of a domestic dispute with his wife, Brigitte, after a video surfaced appearing to show her pushing his face aside as they arrived in Vietnam.
Macron attributed the incident to disinformation efforts aimed at misrepresenting the footage.
The Elysee Palace had intended for the Vietnam visit to highlight France’s strategic role in the Indo-Pacific region. However, the trip has been overshadowed by the viral video, which captured the moment as the presidential plane’s doors opened upon landing in Hanoi on Sunday.
This marks the third time in May that Macron has been at the center of viral online content. French officials say the country is increasingly the target of coordinated disinformation campaigns, especially as Russia intensifies its offensive in Ukraine.
Other recent false claims include allegations that Macron used cocaine during a visit to Kyiv with British Prime Minister Keir Starmer and German Chancellor Friedrich Merz. Another video circulated online purported to show Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan overpowering Macron in a handshake—an image officials have also dismissed as misleading.
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.
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.
