Video: French President Macron dismisses viral video of wife shoving his face as playful banter
Abdullateef Fowewe
French President Emmanuel Macron has denied
any domestic dispute with his wife Brigitte after a video showing her seemingly shoving his face as they arrived in Vietnam went viral.
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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.
The footage, captured as the presidential plane door opened in Hanoi, sparked widespread speculation and conspiracy theories online.
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”.
