French President Emmanuel Macron on Monday dismissed speculation of a domestic dispute with his wife Brigitte after a video showed her appearing to shove his face upon their arrival in Vietnam, attributing the reaction to coordinated disinformation efforts.

The footage, captured by the Associated Press, shows Brigitte Macron extending both hands and pushing her husband’s face after they exited the presidential aircraft in Hanoi on Sunday. Macron appeared briefly startled but quickly turned to wave to onlookers. With most of Brigitte’s body obscured by the plane, her facial expression and full body language were unclear.

“My wife and I were squabbling, we were rather joking, and I was taken by surprise,” Macron told reporters.

He added: “Now it's become a kind of planetary catastrophe, and some are even coming up with theories.”

The Elysée Palace had hoped Macron’s visit would spotlight France’s Indo-Pacific strategy. But the trip has been overshadowed by the incident, which follows a string of viral videos featuring the French president in recent weeks. The government has said France is the target of ongoing disinformation attacks, particularly amid Russia’s intensified offensive in Ukraine.

Macron referenced other clips that have circulated online, including a video falsely alleging he took cocaine during a train trip to Kyiv with British Prime Minister Keir Starmer and German Chancellor Friedrich Merz. In that instance, Macron said he had simply removed a tissue from the table before the media entered.

“For three weeks... there are people who have watched videos and think I shared a bag of cocaine, that I had a fight with the Turkish president, and that now I'm having a domestic dispute with my wife,” Macron said.
“None of these are true,” he added. “Everyone needs to calm down.”

Another viral clip showed Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan appearing to dominate Macron in a handshake at a summit. Macron said these interactions are being misrepresented to support misleading narratives.

After the Hanoi arrival, Brigitte Macron did not take her husband’s arm when he offered it while descending the staircase to greet Vietnamese officials. The video was widely shared by social media accounts critical of the French president.

Macron’s office initially denied the video’s authenticity before confirming it was genuine. A presidential aide later described the exchange as a harmless “squabble.”

“In these three videos I took a tissue, shook someone’s hand and just joked with my wife, as we do quite often. Nothing more,” Macron said.
“We have loads of accounts, anonymous or not, whose frustrations are going to their heads, including news commentators who said this morning that I have the diplomacy of a beaten man,” he added.

Macron emphasized that while the videos were “completely authentic,” the interpretations attached to them were not.

Vietnam is Macron’s first stop on a nearly week-long Southeast Asian tour where he is positioning France as an alternative strategic partner to China and the United States. He is also set to visit Indonesia and Singapore.

The relationship between Macron, 47, and his wife, 72, has long drawn public attention. The two met when she was his high school drama teacher in Amiens, and she later divorced her husband to begin a relationship with Macron while he was still in his teens.

Brigitte Macron, now a prominent public figure, has taken legal action against false rumors about her gender circulating on social media.