Classroom crush to face push: Key moments in the Macrons’ relationship
French President Emmanuel Macron has dismissed a video of him being pushed in the face by his wife as “nonsense”.
The clip, which shows Brigitte Macron place her hands on her husband’s face as they prepare to exit their plane in Vietnam, sparked suggestions that the French first couple were caught in the middle of an argument.
But Mr Macron said afterwards it was a case of “simply joking with my wife, as we often do”.
The pair’s relationship has been in the headlines since Mr Macron’s political career put him, and his loved ones, in the public eye.
Both have been questioned about their 25-year age gap – he is 47 and she is 72 – as well as their unconventional meet.
Use our slider below to look through some of the key moments of the Macrons’ relationship.
When Emmanuel met Brigitte
Mr Macron met Brigitte Trogneux, as she was then known, in 1993 when he was 15.
At the time, she worked as a teacher at his secondary school in the French city of Amiens. As a student, Mr Macron was not in the classes his future wife taught, but the pair spent time together while working on a school play and during theatre workshops she ran.
She was almost 40, married to banker Andre Auziere and had three children, Sebastien, Laurence, and Tiphaine.
Emmanuel Macron’s school yearbook in 1992/93
According to biographer Anne Fulda, who interviewed the Macron family, the French leader’s parents initially thought he had a crush on Laurence Auziere, who was in his class at school. But in fact it was her mum.
Mr Macron’s mother, Francoise, is quoted in Ms Fulda’s book as saying: “We couldn’t believe it. What is clear is that when Emmanuel met Brigitte we couldn’t just say: ‘That’s great!'”
His parents also allegedly told Brigitte to stay away from their son until he was 18, to which she replied: “I cannot promise you anything.”
Years later, she would confide in a friend that being with the young French president was like “working with Mozart”.
The pair in 2016, just before Mr Macron ran for president. Pic: Reuters
‘I will marry you’
Defying the orders from Mr Macron’s parents, the pair kept in touch, even after he was sent to Paris to complete his education at one of France’s finest schools.
Now around the age of 17, Mr Macron told his future wife: “I will be back for you. Whatever you do, I will marry you.”
The couple in 2017. Pic: Reuters
In a 2017 interview with Elle France magazine, Mrs Macron said there was “nothing between” the two of them at the time he went to Paris, but it “all unfolded very slowly”.
She said: “The great distances that separated us physically until 2007. But we wrote to each other all the time during that period.
“It all unfolded very slowly. I gradually brought my family to realise that. Emmanuel gradually brought his family to realise that.”
She admitted at the time she was concerned for her children as “spiteful gossip” had been “making the rounds”.
Mr Macron kisses his wife during the handover ceremony just after he became president of France. Pic: Reuters
The couple eventually got married in 2007, a year after she divorced Mr Auziere. At the time of their wedding, he was 29 and she was 54.
Life as the French first lady
Nearly a decade after tying the knot, Mr Macron made a bid for the presidency, which he won in May 2017.
From the moment Mr Macron started campaigning in 2016, his wife was with him on the election trail, during which he said he would “clarify” the role of the head of state’s spouse.
Shortly after becoming the first lady, Mrs Macron was asked about the relationship with her husband, and their age gap – which is the same as Donald and Melania Trump.
Emmanuel Macron and his wife Brigitte in 2017. Pic: Reuters
She told Elle France that the difference in their ages is a “joke between” them, adding: “Anything anyone might say about the 20 years’ difference is just a big nothing.”
She said: “Of course, we have breakfast, me with my wrinkles, him with his fresh face, but that’s how it is. If I had not made that choice, I would have missed out on my life.”
Dispelling rumours
As a couple, Mr and Mrs Macron have had to dispel various rumours that have emerged about them both.
In 2017 Mr Macron laughed off rumours of a gay affair outside his marriage, saying: “If you’re told I lead a double life… it’s because my hologram has escaped.”
Read more from Sky News:
New Zealand teenager dies after viral tackling game
Mount Everest guide breaks own record
Then in 2022, Mrs Macron launched legal action over the spread of false claims that she was transgender.
In September 2024, she was awarded €8,000 (£6,000) in damages by a Paris court after it found two women guilty of spreading the false allegations.
World
‘Daylight robbery of land – sanctioned by Israeli authorities’: Inside ‘terrorised’ West Bank village
What’s unfolding in the Palestinian village of Ras al-Ayn is more than a land dispute – according to human rights groups, it is the systematic displacement of an entire community.
Activists on the ground report a surge in violence and intimidation by Israeli settlers aimed at driving Palestinian families from their homes.
Footage captured by Rachel Abramovitz, a member of the group Looking The Occupation In The Eye, shows activists trying to block settlers from seizing control of the village centre.
Palestinians say they are being forced off their land by intimidation
“They gradually invade the community and expand. The goal is to terrorise people, to make them flee,” Ms Abramovitz said.
Our visit comes as Israel said it would establish 22 new Jewish settlements in the occupied West Bank – including new settlements and the legalisation of outposts already built without government authorisation.
The settler movement traces back to 1967, when Israel captured the West Bank, East Jerusalem, Gaza, and the Golan Heights during the Six-Day War.
Settlements began as small, often unofficial outposts. Over the decades, they’ve grown into towns and cities with state-provided infrastructure, roads, and security.
Today, 700,000 Israeli settlers live in the West Bank and East Jerusalem, in communities considered illegal under international law – a designation Israel disputes.
Since the Hamas-led attacks on 7 October 2023 and Israel’s subsequent 19-month military bombardment of Gaza, violence by Israeli settlers against Palestinians in the West Bank has escalated sharply.
According to the UN and human rights groups such as B’Tselem, the overwhelming number of these attacks are carried out with impunity, further pressuring Palestinians to flee.
Salaam Ka’abneh says they face daily assaults
Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player
Nine of Gazan doctor’s children killed
Salaam Ka’abneh, a lifelong resident of the Bedouin village of Ras al-Ayn in the Jordan Valley, says his family has lived on the land for more than 50 years. He fears they could be forced to leave.
Mr Ka’abneh said: “About a year and four months ago, settlers cut off our access to water and grazing land. They also stole more than 2,000 sheep from us in the Tel Al-Auja compound. We face daily assaults, day and night.
“They terrorise our children and women, throwing stones, firing bullets, and creating chaos with their vehicles. We are under siege. We no longer have access to pasture or water, and our sheep remain caged.”
Footage from the area shows settlers driving freely through Palestinian communities, some armed.
While the Israeli army officially governs Area C of the West Bank, where Ras al-Ayn is located, human rights groups say settler violence almost always goes unchecked.
Under international law, an occupying power is obligated to protect civilians under its control. But Sarit Michaeli of B’Tselem, an Israeli human rights group, says Israel is failing to uphold its responsibility.
“Israel doesn’t hold settlers accountable. On the contrary – settlers know that if they act violently, they’ll receive support from all branches of the government. There’s full impunity. In fact, it’s more accurate to say settlers function as a branch of the government.
“It’s daylight robbery of land – sanctioned by Israeli authorities,” Michaeli continues.
“And it amounts to ethnic cleansing – displacing large parts of the Palestinian population to make the area available for Israeli use.”
To understand more, we travelled to a hilltop outpost occupied by settlers overlooking Salaam’s village. But we did not get far. Our car was quickly surrounded, and the atmosphere turned hostile.
Salaam Ka’abneh and his family has lived on the land for more than 50 years
It was clear: we were not welcome. We left with no answers but with a deeper understanding of the fear these Palestinian communities live with daily.
International pressure is growing. The British government recently imposed sanctions on several settlers, including Daniella Weiss.
Read more from Sky News:
Key events since 7 October Hamas-led attack
Hamas’ Gaza chief ‘eliminated’
Known as the ‘godmother’ of the settler movement, Weiss has been a key figure in expanding settlements across the West Bank.
“There will never be a Palestinian state between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean. Never,” Weiss declares. “We annex with facts on the ground. The goal is to block any possibility of a Palestinian state in the heartland of Israel.
“If Netanyahu wanted to stop me, he could.”
The Israeli government calls allegations of ethnic cleansing “baseless and without foundation”.
But human rights groups argue that what’s happening in the West Bank has gone far beyond creeping annexation.
Palestinian land is rapidly being consumed by settlements, military zones, and settler outposts – shrinking the space in which a future Palestinian state might one day exist.
You can watch a Sky News special programme on the conflict in Gaza on TV and mobile, at 9pm UK time, on Thursday.
World
US trade court blocks Donald Trump from imposing sweeping global tariffs – claiming he ‘exceeded his authority’
-
Sports3 years ago‘Storybook stuff’: Inside the night Bryce Harper sent the Phillies to the World Series
-
Sports1 year agoStory injured on diving stop, exits Red Sox game
-
Sports2 years agoGame 1 of WS least-watched in recorded history
-
Sports2 years agoMLB Rank 2023: Ranking baseball’s top 100 players
-
Sports4 years ago
Team Europe easily wins 4th straight Laver Cup
-
Environment2 years agoJapan and South Korea have a lot at stake in a free and open South China Sea
-
Environment2 years agoGame-changing Lectric XPedition launched as affordable electric cargo bike
-
Business3 years agoBank of England’s extraordinary response to government policy is almost unthinkable | Ed Conway