Who is Brigitte Macron? France first lady 'denies reading texts sent to actress'
Brigitte Macron has broken her silence to rubbish claims she struck her husband because of texts he had sent to actress Golshifteh Farahani.
Brigitte Macron has broken her silence to rubbish claims she struck her husband, the French president Emmanuel Macron, because of texts he had sent to actress Golshifteh Farahani.
Listen to this article
The French first lady was filmed striking her husband as they prepared to walk off a plane in Hanoi last year, fuelling rumours of a feud between the pair.
Iranian-French actress Farahani has not commented on claims made this week by Paris Match journalist Florian Tardif that Mr Macron had texted her, calling her attractive.
Mr Macron had previously played down the incident has a good natured joke between the pair, and Ms Macron has now spoken, via her office, to deny she slapped him in anger after reading his messages.
Her spokesperson told Le Parisien: “Brigitte Macron categorically denied this account directly to the author on March 5, specifying that she never looks at her husband's mobile phone.”
The Paris Match account has said that the platonic relationship between Mr Macron and Farahani, if it even existed at all, has now come to an end. Here is a look at Brigitte Macron.
Does Brigitte Macron have any children?
Ms Macron had three children with her first husband André-Louis Auzière, whom she married in 1974 and they divorced in 2006. Their children are:
- Sébastien, born 1975,
- Laurence, born 1977,
- Tiphaine, born 1984
Mr Auzière, two years Ms Macron's senior, died in 2019, while Mr Macron does not have any children of his own.
How did Emmanuel Macron and Brigitte meet? What is the age gap between Emmanuel and Brigitte Macron?
Brigitte Macron is nearly 25 years older than Emmanuel Macron and the pair met in Amiens, their shared hometown, in 1993 when he was a pupil in her drama class.
At the time, he was 15 and she was 39, and her daughter Laurence was in the same class. The pair are said to have become close as a result of putting on stage performances together.
The love story
Mr Macron's parents are said to have become concerned about the inappropriate nature of their relationship and sent him to boarding school in Paris, while Ms Macron's then husband moved out of their shared home.
Mr Macron's mother, Francoise, said in a book: "We couldn't believe it. What is clear is that when Emmanuel met Brigitte we couldn't just say: 'That's great!'"
"For me, such a young boy was crippling. Emmanuel had to leave for Paris," Ms Macron said in an interview. "I told myself that he would fall in love with someone his [own] age. It didn’t happen."
Ms Macron continued contact with her future husband and he told her, aged 17: “Whatever you do, I will marry you!”
According to reports, Ms Macron waited for a a decade before breaking the news to her children, her eldest son Sébastien being two years older than Mr Macron.
"In the end, love was more important than anything, and I ended up getting a divorce. I couldn't help it," Ms Macron said in another interview.
Simone and Jean Trogneux, Ms Macron's parents, died before the wedding in 2007 and Ms Macron has said that they would not have approved of the second wedding.
"The great distances that separated us physically until 2007. But we wrote to each other all the time during that period," Ms Macron said in an interview.
"It all unfolded very slowly. I gradually brought my family to realise that. Emmanuel gradually brought his family to realise that."
Why did Brigitte Macron slap Emmanuel Macron?
Emmanuel Macron has said that he and his wife were only engaging in good natured "horse play" when she was filmed striking him in May 2025 - as their plane landed in Hanoi.
According to French journalist Florian Tardif, Franco-Iranian actress Golshifteh Farahani was at the centre of the French first lady's alleged rage.
He has claimed the incident was the result of “a fairly significant argument” where Ms Macron “lost her temper”.
“What happened is that she saw a message from a well-known figure, an Iranian actress, Golshifteh Farahani,” Mr Tardif told RTF radio.
Mr Macron had had a “platonic” relationship with the actress “for a few months”, he alleged, but he claimed “that is no longer the case”.
Ms Macron's press team has rubbished this and said that she never looks at his phone.