Body language expert reveals telltale sign Macron was angry at wife Brigitte after she shoved his face

HANOI, VIETNAM: French President Emmanuel Macron and first lady Brigitte Macron just gave the world a rather jarring glimpse behind their polished facade on the steps of their jet in Vietnam.

A video that has gone viral shows Brigitte’s hands suddenly appearing from the plane’s doorway and shoving her husband’s face, causing his head to jerk sideways as he tried to steady himself. 

The cameras caught the hands, the shove, as well as the stunned look on Emmanuel’s face before he quickly recovered and gave an awkward wave. Brigitte remained hidden behind the aircraft door.

When the couple later descended the staircase to meet Vietnamese officials, Brigitte notably ignored her husband’s extended arm. Emmanuel was spotted with his hand clenched into a tight fist.

Body language expert Judi James broke down the scene. “This will inevitably be turned into a ‘joke’ by some people, but I would call it genuinely shocking and I would say the same if it was any other couple walking down any street, no matter who did it to whom," she told the Daily Mail.

She added, “Pushing your partner in the face with your hand so hard their head reels to the side and they need to put a hand out to keep balance... especially with what looks like an extra 'shove' at the end... should not be normalized by calling it 'fun' just to save political face.”

Questions about Emmanuel and Brigitte Macron's relationship 

To many, the Macrons have long been a curiosity. Brigitte, a then-39-year-old mother of three, was Emmanuel's high school drama teacher when they met in 1993 and he was just 15.

Despite the odds, Macron reportedly vowed to marry her one day — and he did. He moved to Paris for his final year of school, and Brigitte followed years later. After her divorce, the couple tied the knot in 2007.

Over the years, they’ve often put on a united front in public. So this airborne altercation came as quite a shock — even Macron’s own team at first tried to label the clip inauthentic. That quickly changed when the footage was confirmed to be real, prompting one close associate to downplay it as a “squabble.”

Another Elysee official said, “It was a moment when the president and his wife were relaxing one last time before the start of the trip by having a laugh… It was a moment of closeness.”

But James isn’t buying that take. “I would not describe the gesture we saw from inside the plane as one of ‘play’ as has been claimed,” she told the Daily Mail. “If this had been his hand and her face would it have been called ‘playful’? So it should not from her to him.”

What really struck James was the lack of any follow-up gestures that would suggest the couple had been goofing around. “There is no follow-up shared laughter, grins or teasing rituals,” she observed. “Macron performs a 'think-on-your-feet' wave before stepping back in towards his wife, but he seems to touch his face too, in a checking gesture.”

She also pointed out that the footage appears to show Brigitte using both hands to push Macron’s face, something that “could have easily led to him going off-balance and stumbling over.”

James noted that even as they walked off the plane, Emmanuel “seems to hold his hand out towards her... but they walk with no further touch.” A telling sign that this wasn’t just playful banter.

Emmanuel Macron tries to laugh the incident off

Emmanuel Macron tried to brush off the moment when speaking to reporters in Hanoi the next day. “I was bickering, or rather joking, with my wife. It’s nothing,” he insisted.

But the optics told a different story. According to James, there was a clear shift once the couple officially began their Southeast Asia tour.

“There has clearly been a reboot for the actual visit,” she said. “We can see the couple appearing to be back to their more pleasant touch rituals again, with Macron’s hand held out to help Brigitte down some stairs as they walk with their hosts in front of the world’s official view.”

With a visit to the UK looming, James added that the Macrons will have to be extra cautious about the message their body language sends from here on out. "The body language scrutiny that visit will now prompt” isn’t something they can ignore anymore," she insisted.