Paris
CNN
–
Quick thrust. The split-second clip that controlled US news that aired only 24 hours a day in France was gone, and it was gone.
When the viral video appeared over the weekend, Bridget, the wife of French President Emmanuel Macron, pressed his face as he was about to disappear during a visit to Vietnam, and the front page of a French newspaper featured it the following morning.
Maybe it’s because Prime Minister François Bailloux was talking about the financial efforts the French must make under his soon-to-be abolished budget? Or have people been detained recently on a series of code-inducing attempts?
More likely, he highlighted the emphasis on cultural disparities between France and the UK. This is a long-standing French belief that the private lives of politicians should be protected.
This secret-keeping tradition has hidden President François’s Mitterland’s illegal daughter for years. It also means delicate silence around other controversial personal lives, such as the infamous feminization of Dominic Strauss Kahn.
The arrest of the former International Monetary Fund chief on sexual assault charges in New York in 2011 suddenly ended his political career as he had emerged as a leading candidate for president.
A rule that doesn’t have the same thing emerged in 2014. When Closer Magazine released a photo of former President François Holland disguised as a motorcycle helmet, he arrived at the apartment of a friend who reportedly met actress Julie Gayette.
At the time, Gale was his girlfriend, but he had a live-in partner, Valerie Torierweiler.
The story was upset, but Hollande’s office denounced the “invasion of privacy” and the media quickly retreated.
At the press conference, Hollande only faces one question about his personal life, biasing it with the remark that “private issues are addressed privately,” silenced the crowd of French journalists and surprised foreign journalists.
So when Macron’s video began to flow, the initial media response was quick, but short-lived. The French outlet played the clips in a loop, analyzed them temporarily, and proceeded.
However, that core rule is currently being tested.
“As time goes by, these kinds of personal stories have become much more difficult to restrain than they were 30 or 20 years ago,” says Thierry Arnaud, an international correspondent and veteran journalist at BFMTV.
“We didn’t make it a big deal, but it’s deeply embarrassing for Macron. You’re infiltrating at the couple’s intimate moments and it’s uncomfortable for both him and those who are watching.”
Macron’s relationship with Bridget has always been unconventional. They met when he was 15 and she was his drama teacher at Amien’s private school. She was 24 years old, married and was a mother of three.
It began when his mentorship grew deeper and by the time Macron graduated, he had vowed to marry her one day. “No matter what you do, I’ll marry you,” he reportedly told her as a teenager.
Their story was used as campaign material in 2017, highlighting the publication of their relationship, posing in a shiny French magazine, describing their marriage as a celebration of atypical but loving modern family. Critics were labelled misogynist.
“It was a complete badge of honor at first, a special kind of charm added to his (Macron’s) image of being politically and personally bold.
After Vietnam began, the couple publicly showed unity that evening, walking hand in hand through the streets of Hanoi in a clear effort to quell rumors of domestic discord.
However, the line between public and private is blurry. Traditionally, Elise Palace has maintained a strict policy of never commenting on rumors or the private lives of politicians. But the rise of social media and the disinformation campaigns have dragged them into these personal controversies, challenging their long-standing attitude.
In March, conservative commentator Candace Owens revived absurd conspiracy theory in a YouTube video entitled “Is the French First Lady a Man?”
Owens, widely promoted on X, called it “probably the biggest scandal in political history.” Since then, Owens has produced numerous videos about Brigitte Macron for 4 million YouTube subscribers, including a multipart series called Brigitte.
The claims were completely unfounded, and Bridget Macron successfully appealed to two French women for spreading them, but elicited a response from the president.
At a Paris event in March 2024, Macron spoke directly to the rumors, saying that the worst part of being president must deal with “false information and manufactured stories.”
“People will believe in them, and even in your most private moments, it will disrupt your life,” Macron said.
His words now feel prophetic, and the world speculates about a deep, intimate exchange that we may never let go.
