Not that you asked, but yes, I have been feeling a bit overwhelmed by all the bad news out of Washington:
Pardons for tax cheats who line President Trump’s pockets. Talk of pardons for the violent criminals who conspired to kidnap and kill Democratic Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer. Dinners for crypto moguls who shower him with money. His monomaniacal quest to extinguish the light of the country’s most prestigious university. His budget that will deprive millions of their healthcare coverage, while slashing taxes for the rich and swelling the $36 trillion national debt by an estimated $3.8 trillion.
And don’t get me started on Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s inane move that could make it harder for pregnant women to get COVID-19 shots, thus depriving their infants of protection against the virus when they are vulnerable and not yet eligible for vaccination.
Good heavens, I needed a distraction. Happily, it arrived in the form of an unexpected video.
You may have seen it: Last Sunday, French President Emmanuel Macron’s wife, Brigitte, got tongues wagging when she did something that seemed entirely out of character for the painfully elegant first lady. She was caught on camera squishing her hands right into his handsome face. It looked like an act of hostility. I was intrigued.
I know, I know. It’s hardly world-shattering news. But who doesn’t perk up a bit when the scrim of perfection that shields the private lives of high-profile, perfectly turned-out couples is torn, even for one brief moment?
Who can forget the sight of First Lady Melania Trump swatting away her husband’s hand during a 2017 visit to Tel Aviv? Or the way her smile faded during his first inauguration the moment he looked away from her, inspiring the #FreeMelania hashtag?
For all the drama and rumor that swirled around the Clintons’ marriage, I can’t think of any public moment when they did not appear civil with one another, even after his disastrous relationship with a White House intern.
And the Obamas? Is there any other intensely scrutinized political couple who seem so downright normal? Not that anyone ever really knows what’s going on in anyone else’s marriage.
Which brings us back to the Macrons.
His plane was on the tarmac in Hanoi, where he was kicking off a tour to strengthen ties with countries in Southeast Asia. As the plane door opened, the couple were caught unawares. A startled-looking Macron backed up as disembodied hands smushed his face. He instantly collected himself, and his wife appeared at his side. As they began to descend the staircase, he offered her his arm, which she did not take.
The bizarre clip went viral, and sent the French government, known as the Élysée Palace, into what one headline described as “chaos.”
Part of the chaos stemmed from the government first claiming that the clip was not real but was possibly a deep fake created by AI and exploited by Russia to make Macron seem weak. After the Associated Press authenticated the video, the French government changed its tune, describing the moment as merely a playful interaction between the couple.
Unsurprisingly, given their back story, the Macrons have been the subject of intense fascination for years.
They met in 1993 at a Catholic high school in northern France when he was 15. She, nearly 40 at the time, and a married mother of three, was his drama teacher. His parents were so concerned about the impropriety of their relationship that they sent him away to Paris for his senior year.
In 2006, she divorced her husband, and married Macron the following year. He was 29. She was 54.
“Of course, we have breakfast together, me and my wrinkles, him with his youth, but it’s like that,” Macron told Elle France in 2017. “If I did not make that choice, I would have missed out on my life.”
Unfortunately, Le Slapgate threatened to overshadow the Macrons’ trip.
“We are squabbling and, rather, joking with my wife,” he told reporters, complaining that the incident was being overblown into “a sort of geo-planetary catastrophe.”
A few days later, though, he was making light of the incident. Or at least trying to.
On Tuesday in Jakarta, Indonesia, as his plane door opened, another disembodied hand appeared, this time waving before Macron stepped into the camera frame smiling before he walked down the stairs arm in arm with his wife. Ha ha.
For a brief moment, the squabbling of one of the world’s most interesting couples gave us a much needed break from the actual geo-planetary catastrophe unfolding around us. For that, the Macrons have my gratitude. Merci, you crazy lovebirds.
