A brief video clip showing France’s First Lady, Brigitte Macron, appearing to push her husband, President Emmanuel Macron, as they disembarked from a plane in Vietnam quickly went viral, sparking widespread commentary and speculation online.
The incident occurred as the presidential couple arrived in Hanoi for a state visit. As the aircraft door opened, cameras captured the president standing inside. From off-camera, Brigitte Macron’s hands, notably in a red jacket, reached out and made contact with his face – one hand covering his mouth and part of his nose, the other on his jaw – causing him to recoil briefly before recovering, smiling, and waving to the awaiting cameras. While Brigitte Macron’s body was largely concealed during this specific moment, the interaction fueled immediate discussion.
Macron Addresses the Speculation
Speaking to reporters shortly after the incident gained traction, President Macron directly addressed the footage and the subsequent interpretations. He firmly denied that the video depicted any form of domestic dispute or argument between him and his wife.
Instead, Macron characterized the gesture as purely playful. He stated that he and Brigitte were simply “joking around, as we do quite often,” describing the moment as them “squabbling and, rather, joking” or “horsing around.” Other accounts from his entourage echoed this, calling it “larking around” and a “moment of closeness” or “complicity” as they were “decompressing one last time” before the official duties of their visit began.
Amplification by Hostile Accounts
Despite the straightforward explanation from the Élysée Palace, the video was quickly seized upon and amplified by accounts known to be hostile to the French president. Notably, Russian state media outlets, including the Russia Today TV channel, and French far-right accounts widely shared the clip, often with mocking or speculative commentary.
Russian foreign ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova posted on Telegram, sarcastically suggesting the president had received “a right hook.” She questioned whether the first lady was trying to “cheer up her husband with a gentle pat” or “fix his collar,” pointedly adding, “Here’s a hint: maybe it was the ‘hand of the Kremlin’.”
Part of a Pattern of Disinformation
Macron placed the incident and its interpretation within a broader context of online disinformation targeting him. He mentioned other recent false claims, such as accusations of using cocaine or having a physical altercation with the Turkish president, all of which he vehemently denied.
He pointed out that the accounts pushing these narratives, including the interpretation of the viral video, often represented a familiar alliance between Russians and French extremists. Macron lamented how a simple, private moment between him and his wife was being distorted and used to spread “made-up stories,” urging everyone to “calm down” their reactions to such content.
Context of the Vietnam Visit
The incident occurred at the start of Macron’s visit to Vietnam, the first formal visit by a French presidential couple to the country in nearly a decade. The trip was part of a broader tour of Southeast Asia aimed at strengthening ties and presenting France as a reliable alternative partner amid global economic shifts and trade tensions between the US and China. During the visit, France and Vietnam signed significant deals worth €9bn (£7.55bn) covering areas from Airbus planes to nuclear energy and defence.
Ultimately, Macron and his office maintained that the viral video captured nothing more than a fleeting, playful interaction between a long-married couple, unnecessarily exaggerated and misinterpreted by those seeking to fuel conspiracy theories and disinformation. Subsequent images showed the couple descending the plane stairs side-by-side, though Brigitte did not take the arm her husband briefly offered.
References
- https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/may/26/macron-says-video-of-wife-brigitte-pushing-him-in-face-does-not-show-them-quarrelling
- https://apnews.com/article/macron-brigitte-wife-french-president-vietnam-viral-video-82dbcd00d45b6a7718e855a9f4414a26
- https://www.pbs.org/newshour/world/frances-first-lady-appears-to-push-her-husband-on-a-plane-macron-says-they-were-joking
- https://www.cbsnews.com/news/brigitte-macron-emmanuel-macron-wife-france-president-hanoi/
- https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2025/05/26/emmanuel-macron-brigitte-shoving-video/83862408007/
