A brief moment between French President Emmanuel Macron and his wife, Brigitte, has gone viral. As the couple disembarked from a plane in Hanoi on May 25, footage appeared to show Brigitte lightly “slapping” Macron’s face. The clip sparked a flurry of online reactions, with lip readers claiming she muttered, “Dégage, espèce de loser” (“Stay away, you loser”), and Macron replying, “Essayons, s’il te plaît” (“Let’s try, please?”), to which she said, “Non.”

Macron downplayed the incident, calling it harmless fun. The Élysée described it as a moment of “complicity” between the couple. Still, the internet remains fascinated—not only by the playful spat but also by their unusual love story.

Brigitte was Macron’s high school teacher, 24 years his senior. He was 15 when they met, and they married in 2007. Whether affectionate teasing or something more, the moment has reignited public curiosity about their unconventional relationship.