It was the slap that shook the world. Not so much from shock but laughter, as cameras caught the Macrons having a domestic on an international flight.
A book published this week in France claims that Brigitte slapped her husband after discovering ‘a steamy message’ on Emmanuel’s phone sent by an actress.
According to Un Couple (Presque) Parfait, ‘Slapgate’ wasn’t the first time Brigitte had to bring her husband to heel over a woman
The books says the sender was Iranian-born Golshifteh Farahani, who came to prominence in 2008 when she starred alongside Leonardo DiCaprio in the Ridley Scott film, Body of Lies.
Brigitte allegedly found the message as the presidential jet landed at Hanoi airport in May last year. In a fit of rage she was seen swinging a right at Macron just as the doors of the aircraft opened.
The president later tried to downplay the incident but many people, notably Donald Trump, won’t let Macron forget his humiliation. Last month the American president had a joke at the expense of his French counterpart, telling an audience that Macron was still ‘recovering from the right to the jaw’, and that his wife ‘treats him extremely badly’. Macron described Trump’s jibes as ‘neither elegant nor up to standard’ and consequently said ‘they do not merit a response’.
Presumably the president thinks much the same thing about Un Couple (Presque) Parfait, the book written by Florian Tardif, a reputable political correspondent at Paris Match.
The magazine published an extract of the book on Wednesday. According to Tardif, ‘what hurt Brigitte was not so much the contents of the message as what it hinted at’. As a friend of the first lady said, the 73-year-old Brigitte ‘saw herself being erased’.
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In a radio interview on Wednesday, Tardiff alleged that Macron – who is 25 years younger than his wife – and Farahani had enjoyed a ‘platonic relationship’ for several months. Nonetheless, added Tardiff, in one message the President informed Farahani that he found her ‘very pretty’.
Representatives of Madame Macron have rubbished the idea she slapped Emmanuel out of jealously, explaining that ‘she never looks at her husband’s mobile phone’.
As yet there has been no response from the president’s office but while recollections of what happened in Hanoi may vary, rumours linking Macron to Farahani are not new. They first surfaced last year, prompting the 42-year-old actress to tell a magazine: ‘Fair or unfair, they are only rumours. They are like waves that come and go.’
She also revealed last year that ‘I’m starting a new relationship and am in the process of figuring out if I’m in love’. She didn’t name her new beau but declared that this relationship would be on her own terms. ‘In reality, I don’t need a man. If I choose one, it’s to grow and enrich my life; otherwise, there’s no point.’
According to Un Couple (Presque) Parfait, ‘Slapgate’ wasn’t the first time Brigitte had to bring her husband to heel over a woman.
Tardif also shines a light on a ‘mysterious intern who worked in the diplomatic unit’ during Macron’s first term in office. Known as ‘Scheherazade’, the young woman was attractive, intelligent, ambitious and determined to seduce the new president. She was also a foreign national. ‘She tried to get close to the president – more out of ambition than love,’ says Tardif. One of Macron’s advisors is quoted as saying that Scheherazade ‘used her charm to get what she wanted’.
A friend of the first lady claims that the president ‘didn’t hold back’ in the presence of Scheherazade without going into further details. Eventually Brigitte intervened and ‘forced her to leave’. Madame Macron, it appears, has her hands full at the Elysee.
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