Fresh claims about the now-infamous moment between Emmanuel Macron and Brigitte Macron during a state visit to Vietnam have reignited speculation over tensions in France’s most closely watched political marriage. A new book by French journalist Florian Tardif alleges the incident may have been triggered by messages exchanged between the French president and French-Iranian actress Golshifteh Farahani.
The awkward exchange was captured on camera as the presidential plane landed in Hanoi in May 2025. It showed Brigitte Macron appearing to shove her husband’s face moments before the couple exited the aircraft. At the time, the Élysée Palace dismissed the moment as harmless “playfulness” between the pair and Emmanuel Macron himself insisted they had simply been “joking around.”
In his newly released book Un couple (presque) parfait, An (almost) perfect couple, which came out on Wednesday, Paris Match journalist Florian Tardif claimed the disagreement stemmed from messages allegedly sent between Macron and Farahani.
The book claims that a text message from the actress to the president, seen by Brigitte Macron, provoked an argument between him and his wife, leading to the shove captured on camera.
Speaking to French radio station RTL, the journalist said the relationship was “platonic” but that some messages “went quite far” with one allegedly calling the actress “very pretty.”
The author also told RTL: “Everything in the book is facts, facts and only facts.”
An extract published in Paris Match reads: “What hurt Brigitte was not so much the contents of the message as what it hinted at: a possibility … nothing tangible or that could really be denounced but the idea alone … was enough.”
Sources close to Brigitte Macron told Le Parisien on Wednesday: “Brigitte Macron categorically denied this account to the author directly on March 5, stating that she never looked at her husband’s mobile phone.”
Tardif said he had interviewed the first lady several times while preparing his book. When he spoke to her in March, she apparently said she had been “very tired” after a difficult flight.
“There was a lot of turbulence during the flight, which stopped me sleeping. Right then, I didn’t want to get out [of the aircraft]. He tried to make me laugh. He gave me some water and I pushed him away.”
Farahani has repeatedly dismissed the speculation. The actress told Le Point earlier this year: “I think that there is a lack of love for some people and they need to create romances like this to fill [the void].”
