The internet is busy discussing why Emmanuel Macron got slapped by his wife, a moment that has since gone viral on various social media platforms. On Sunday, the French President, along with his wife, Brigitte Macron, with whom he shares a 25-year age gap, landed in Hanoi, Vietnam.
It was the first stop for their Southeast Asia tour, which also includes further stops like Indonesia and Singapore.
In footage from their landing in Hanoi, Emmanuel Macron is seen standing by the aircraft’s exit. The workers opened the door, and he was just getting ready to go outside. In the meantime, someone’s arm came into view. It appeared that someone “slapped” the French leader’s face. Then they (the President and his wife) walked out behind each other and descended the stairs together.
As the clip went viral, many began speculating what really happened. Jesus Enrique Rosas, who claims to be the “Body Language Guy,” analyzed the encounter on X (formerly Twitter).
His tweet starts with, “Emmanuel and Brigitte Macron were arriving in Vietnam when the cameras captured this interaction.”
Rosas next made a big claim: “This is one split second before the ‘shoving’. This is how we know that Macron didn’t expect the gesture, since his body was relaxed, he had a neutral expression and his left hand/wrist was relaxed as well.”
He added, “I say shovelling because at first I thought it was a slap, but in fact Brigitte used both hands to push Macron’s head backwards. At the peak of the gesture, Macron realizes everyone out there just witnessed the incident.”
“He’s startled and tries to play it cool, greeting. I noticed that he made an unnecessary ‘anchor’ gesture, putting his left hand on the seat to his left.
(4/7) He’s startled and tries to play it cool, greeting. I noticed that he made an unnecessary ‘anchor’ gesture, putting his left hand on the seat to his left. This is something that we do under stress (touch the wall, a chair, something), without really leaning or using it as… pic.twitter.com/hvulcIy0N9
— Jesús Enrique Rosas – The Body Language Guy (@Knesix) May 26, 2025
“This is something that we do under stress (touch the wall, a chair, something), without really leaning or using it as support. It’s obvious that he was startled.”
The body language expert claimed that the French pair took a minute before coming out of the plane. “He takes a minute to compose himself. We can see a pacifying gesture of touching his nose.”
“When they are finally going down the stairs, he offers Brigitte his arm but Brigitte ignores him. Macron still keeps his arm bent for a few more steps until finally giving up,” Rosas added.
The French President’s office has already attempted to explain the incident. “It was a moment where the president and his wife were decompressing one last time before the start of the trip by horsing around.” They added, however, “It’s a moment of complicity. It was all that was needed to give ammunition to the conspiracy theorists.”
The incident has since raised concerns about the status of their marriage.
Many conspiracy theories claimed that Macron had no prior idea about what his wife was about to do.
