Brigitte Macron Caught on Video Shoving President Emmanuel Macron’s Face Amid Vietnam Arrival as Elysee Downplays Incident (video)
- Victor Nwoko
- May 26
- 3 min read
French President Emmanuel Macron’s arrival in Vietnam has been overshadowed by a surprising moment captured on video, showing his wife, Brigitte Macron, appearing to shove his face just as the couple disembarked from their plane in Hanoi.
The footage, recorded during the presidential aircraft’s arrival on Sunday evening, shows the airplane door opening with President Macron emerging into view. Moments later, Brigitte’s arms extend from the side, and she places both hands on her husband’s face, pushing it away. The French leader looks briefly startled before quickly recovering and waving to the awaiting Vietnamese delegation. Brigitte, whose body remained partially hidden by the plane’s doorway, did not take the president’s extended arm as they descended the stairs for the official welcome.
Initially, the Elysee Palace denied the video’s authenticity, but later confirmed the clip was genuine. Presidential aides dismissed the exchange as a harmless moment between the couple, describing it as a private joke during a moment of decompression before a high-stakes diplomatic visit. “It was a moment of closeness,” said one Elysee official. Another source added, “It was a moment when the president and his wife were decompressing before the trip by joking around.”
The viral clip quickly spread across social media, especially among pro-Russian accounts that have historically criticized the French president. Elysee officials accused these outlets of using the moment to fuel conspiracy theories. The video follows another recent online controversy where President Macron was falsely accused of concealing cocaine during a meeting aboard a train with British Labour leader Keir Starmer and German opposition leader Friedrich Merz. The French government later clarified the object seen in that image was a tissue, not drugs.
President Macron’s Vietnam visit marks the first by a French head of state in nearly a decade and is part of a broader Southeast Asian tour that includes stops in Indonesia and Singapore. His mission: to position France as a dependable strategic partner in a region increasingly shaped by U.S.-China rivalry.
In Hanoi, Macron signed over a dozen agreements related to defense, civil nuclear energy, and trade, including a major deal between VietJet and Airbus for the purchase of 20 A330-900 aircraft. During a press event with Vietnamese President Luong Cuong, Macron emphasized the need for a global order based on rule of law, stating, “At a time of great imbalance and a return to power-driven rhetoric, we must defend international law.”
He also laid a wreath at a war memorial honoring those who fought against French colonialism, visited the historic Temple of Literature, and held high-level meetings with Vietnamese leaders including Communist Party general secretary To Lam.
France and Vietnam maintain a “comprehensive strategic partnership,” the highest diplomatic status recognized by Hanoi and also held with the U.S., Russia, and China. Macron emphasized France’s ongoing support for Vietnam’s development in key areas such as high-speed rail, civil nuclear power, critical minerals, aerospace, and a transition from coal to renewable energy.
France recently demonstrated its commitment to the Indo-Pacific by deploying a carrier strike group to the South China Sea in early 2025. While China and Vietnam maintain an agreement over the Gulf of Tonkin, they remain locked in territorial disputes over the Spratly and Paracel Islands.
This is President Macron’s first visit to Vietnam since taking office in 2017, underscoring the strategic importance of France’s growing Indo-Pacific engagement.
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