A book that brings the Vietnam slap back to the forefront of the debate on the French street

The French controversy over what the media called "Brigitte's slap to Macron" on the presidential plane in Vietnam in 2025 has returned to the forefront, after French journalist Florian Tardif blew up the issue again in his new book "A (Semi) Perfect Couple" published by Albin Michel, which details the private and political lives of the French president and his wife.

Tardif said in a television interview that the scene that emerged when the plane door was opened was not just a "passing joke", but the result of a sharp tension inside the plane between the president and his wife, after Brigitte discovered an "intimate and verbally advanced" conversation between Macron and French-Iranian actress Golshiftte Farahani, which included words of admiration that provoked a sharp disagreement between the couple before the moment of disembarkation.

The journalist pointed out that this tension was reflected in the video, which showed Brigitte's hand moving towards the president's face, which sparked a wide wave of controversy on social media between those who considered it a "public slap" and those who saw it as a moment of joke. However, he did not provide concrete evidence, referring only to "sources within the circle of power", which made his account widely questionable.

Elysée denies

On the other hand, the Elysee Palace was quick to deny that there was any dispute between the president and his wife, stressing that the scene is only a moment of natural interaction before the start of an official visit, while Farahani in turn denied any relationship with Macron, describing what is being circulated as "repeated and baseless rumors." The Elysée denial can be revised.

  Le Parisien newspaper quoted people close to Brigitte Macron as saying that the first lady "does not search her husband's phone", and that the writer ignored this denial despite communicating with them last March.

Still, the book continues to pique the interest of the French public, highlighting the intersection between private and political life within the Elysée and reposing an age-old question: How far can the French president's life remain out of the limelight in an age of digital transparency and lurking media?

 The new controversy is not limited to a personal incident, but reflects the sensitivity of the relationship between power and the media in France, where private details become political material, and every gesture or movement in front of the cameras becomes interpretable.