Brigette macron hits Emmanuel

[Stressedout150]

has anyone seen this on the news?! What do we all think, it’s all a bit bizarre

It is not okay what she did looks very nasty....there is no down playing it....to scratch someone's face like that is horrific!

She did it in front of others as they would have had people around them....beggars belief! He should get shot of her asap...

Not exactly but if* *he is willing to surrender his authority within his own home, why should he be entrusted with the governance of others?

How rare is it? How many men don't complain because they are ashamed to have been abused by a woman or because people will say the sort of rubbish on here e.g. what did he do to deserve it/she must have found out he had a mistress/he probably hit her first.

It could be much more common than we know.

Spot on. I don't ever like comments about people's looks. Bit creepy

Exactly. Relationships that start this way aren’t healthy.

And yes this would apply equally if not more if the man has been the middle aged teacher and the woman was a teen.

Why more?

I'm not sure how it could be a surprise when most normal people regard the targeting of a child by someone in authority as both abusive and disgusting?

I suppose it could be argued that on reflection she might have regretted it, but since the gap of 10 years before they married would have provided ample opportunity for that it hardly seems likely

Sadly, what isn't a surprise is to see the endless rationalising purely because she's a woman, but then that's par for the course on MN

Scrap that. It’s just as gross and predatory in both cases. Period

You sicken me. No-one deserves physical violence.

I agree. I'm more concerned about Trump's big gob and insatiable desire to needle other world leaders, and this giving him future ammo, than Russian bots doing what Russian bots do.

Of course it's important that Emmanuel Macron looks strong politically, and is able to function effectively as a democratic unifier in the face of authoritarianism alongside other G7 leaders.

That doesn't mean I must disbelieve the evidence of my eyes. Putin, Kim and Netanyahu certainly won't.

The trouble for Macron is that he's now got as much of a PR/pride problem as he has a domestic/marital one. He may be advised to be ruthless. It's usually what happens to politicians with marital & personal issues.

It’s conceivable it was done in jest. But his reaction suggests otherwise. Though he may have (rightly) been concerned how it’d look on camera.

It’s conceivable it was a tiff. All couples have them, especially when travelling. Respecting adults should obvs avoid arguments becoming physical. But a rare shove (while never excusable) doesn’t constitute ‘abuse’.

It’s conceivable it’s a glimpse of something more unhealthy behind closed doors. I agree with PPs, the age gap in their relationship shouldn’t be judged. Plenty of women are in healthy relationships with much older men. But the fact she was his teacher and parent of his classmate, so knew him as a minor, is a big power dynamic to overcome. Doesn’t mean it can’t result in a healthy, equitable relationship. Similar with Cheryl (Tweedy) and Liam Payne. But IMHO generally best to seek a partner you’ve first met as an adult.

Whatever the truth is, I find a lot of the tittle tattle about Brigitte highly sexist and ageist.

This is interesting. I wonder if there is a massive issue here that is in plain sight but 'sanitised' by the marriage.

Just because he is the president of France doesn't mean he isn't being subjugated and abused by her. She clearly has a very strong personality in that any normal 39yo woman, married with three kids that is attracted to a 15yo would have a massive word with themselves and block and delete, no matter the strong urge to continue it. The knowledge that you are going to be blocking him from a normal life and blowing up that of all around you too, should be enough but she pursued and pursued him, even in the face of his parents demands to refrain.

He's bound to defend her to try and keep a lid on it all but I'm wondering if she might be an arch manipulator and abuser.

We have had an awful woman marry in to the family and she has wrought absolute destruction whilst wearing a sweet smile. DH has lost his son as a result and everyone's heads are spinning over the weirdest allegations this woman has made that cannot possibly be true but they seem to lapping it up.

I remember this case. It was the first time a forensic pathologist used the pattern of blood vessels under the skin, that are as unique to individuals as finger prints, as evidence. It was clearly her father.

Is that you, Camilla?

@EdithBond Doesn’t mean it can’t result in a healthy, equitable relationship. Similar with Cheryl (Tweedy) and Liam Payne. But IMHO generally best to seek a partner you’ve first met as an adult.

I always found Cheryl and Liam uncomfortable tbh. When they met he was a fourteen year old child (and he looked it too) and she was a married woman a decade older.

I know that Liam was an adult when they actually got together but I still find it a bit scummy.

How the heck would I know? Maybe Mme Macron had had a bad day and whatever her hubby did or said was the final straw, so she felt a slap to the face was appropriate? I'm not apportioning blame to either party simply because I don't (and never will) have the facts available. They will each have their version of events, but the truth will lay somewhere in between.

That's dreadful for the poor girl - what on earth were the Jury thinking? 😡 Just the getting into bed with your daughter, never mind the thrusting, would be enough to get a "guilty" verdict from me! Not traumatized enough - of course she doesn't, she's been told this is what a father and daughter normally do! I despair of some people, I really do.

You were indicating that he'd done something to cause this.
My point is that it's not justified. Maybe you didn't mean it like that.

Sorry, which rumours?
It is a fact they she engaged with him on a relationship when he was 14-15.
There is no rumour to be had there.
It is called grooming.

Maybe Mme Macron had had a bad day and whatever her hubby did or said was the final straw, so she felt a slap to the face was appropriate?

How about

Maybe M. Macron had had a bad day and whatever his wife did or said was the final straw, so he felt a slap to the face was appropriate?

@rb124 ?

They will each have their version of events, but the truth will lay somewhere in between.

How on earth can you say this with such certainty? The truth isn't always a comfortable and convenient middle-ground.

Any normal 39yo woman, married with three kids that is attracted to a 15yo would have a massive word with themselves and block and delete, no matter the strong urge to continue it.

That’s the problematic bit. A 39 year old being attracted to a 15 year old. At all.

Let alone actually acting on it. I believe the story they tell is that he pursued her. But teenagers can often have crushes on teachers. A responsible adult, and especially teacher, discourages it. A student and teacher can be inspired by each other’s intellect or creativity. And even become lifelong friends or work together as adults. But it’s the romantic and/or sexual element (if one is still a teen or young adult) that crosses the boundary of what’s appropriate.

Teenage girls (or boys) who’ve survived grooming by older men can feel at the time they’re the one doing the pursuing. But if it’s not made very clear by the adult a romantic/sexual relationship wouldn’t be appropriate, is it not still grooming? If an adult doesn’t recognise that, it’s a worry.

What Brigitte Macron did was unforgivable. It doesn't matter what their "versions of events" were. She was caught on camera in full media glare abusing her husband, who did well to keep his composure and dignity.

I hope she disappears out of the spotlight from now on, she's a horrible, horrible controlling woman. Whether this will spell the end of their marriage is yet to be seen, but I expect she will play a nasty fight if it does.

“Maybe a slap to the face was appropriate”

JFC

But equally, how can anyone claim with any certainty that Macron is in an abusive relationship? We have opinions, and speculations, but not actual facts. Some people on here are constructing elaborate explanations of a relationship based purely on speculation. None of us have facts. We can say what we think this looks like to us ( and to me it looks like he was pushed in the face) and what we fear or suspect, but many people have gone way beyond this and seem to think they are in possession of facts.