Necva Taştan Sevinç
26 May 2025•Update: 27 May 2025
ISTANBUL
French President Emmanuel Macron on Monday dismissed speculation over a widely circulated video showing French first lady Brigitte Macron shoving his face aboard their plane after arriving in Vietnam.
“We were joking, nothing more, nothing less. And this has turned into some kind of geopolitical catastrophe,” Macron said, denying claims of a domestic dispute.
The video, recorded by several international press agencies, captured the moment the presidential plane door opened on Sunday evening, showing the first lady’s arm pushing the president’s face.
As they descended the stairs to greet waiting Vietnamese officials, Macron appeared to offer his arm to his wife, who seemed to ignore the gesture.
Macron criticized the online frenzy surrounding the footage.
"I see many crazies spending a lot of time interpreting these videos," he said, pointing to what he described as exaggerated or false narratives on social media.
He cited two other recent examples where videos of him were misinterpreted.
"In the past three weeks, there are people who watched videos and thought I was sharing a bag of cocaine, that I was engaged in a mano a mano with a Turkish president, and now that I’m having a domestic argument with my wife. None of that is true," Macron said.
He also suggested that external actors were amplifying the rumors. “To spread these things, the Russians are good allies, and the extremes in France are formidable proxies,” he said.
Macron arrived in Hanoi on Sunday evening to begin a weeklong tour of Southeast Asia aimed at deepening economic and diplomatic ties, including engagements in Indonesia and Singapore.
