The unknown background behind Brigitte Macron's slap on the French president in May 2025, which sparked a global debate, is revealed by the political editor of 'Paris Match' magazine, Florian Tardif, in his book titled "A (Almost) Perfect Couple", for which he spoke with more than 70 sources, including the First Lady of France.
In images captured by cameras after Emmanuel Macron and his wife arrived at Hanoi airport, Vietnam, as part of a tour of Asia, when the plane door was opened, two hands belonging to Brigitte Macron landed on the French president's face as he realized the cameras had "caught" them, trying to awkwardly greet each other.
According to what Tardif wrote in the book and said in a radio interview, the incident was caused by text messages on Emmanuel Macron's mobile phone, which Brigitte Macron saw.
According to the French journalist, "what happened was that Brigitte Macron saw a message from a famous person, the Iranian actress Golfitech Farahani."
He insists he did extensive research to verify this claim:
"I write the name because there were rumors circulating in Paris. What I am writing is not a rumor. I made it clear at the Elysee that it is not their version."
“You are very beautiful”
Tardif also said that "the French president had a platonic love affair with the actress for several months. They had told me this repeatedly. The messages they showed me were quite advanced, of the style of 'you are very beautiful', etc."
"These messages led to tensions that ended with the private quarrel becoming public, as at some point the impression was created that everything was due to a misunderstanding – a particularly serious misunderstanding that had ended. Except that it didn't happen that way," claims the Paris Match journalist.
In his interview, the French journalist said that the French Presidential Palace "regretted" the communication tactics they followed after the episode:
"Today they regretted their reaction because they could have given the image that Brigitte and Emmanuel Macron were a 'normal' couple and not a perfect couple. After all, this was the narrative they were giving us since the beginning of Macron's mandate."
It is recalled that when the video was released, the Élysée Palace's first reaction was that the images were not authentic, while later a close associate of the French president spoke of a common quarrel for couples.
Then, Macron's entourage also continued with a new version, commenting that it was a moment "when the president and his wife were relaxing for the last time before the start of the trip, playing."
The same source then spoke about a social moment and attributed the negative comments mainly to circles friendly to Russia../Figaro
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