The age gap between French President Emmanuel Macron and his wife Brigitte has left the internet shocked, to say the least.
But perhaps the detail that surprises people most isn’t the age difference, but the fact that France’s first lady used to be Macron’s school teacher.
The pair met while Brigitte was teaching drama at La Providence, a private school in Amiens which the politician-to-be attended.
In 2006, Brigitte divorced her former husband André-Louis Auzière, who she has three children with, before tying the knot with Macron, 44, in 2007.
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It's these finer details that were brought to the attention of the online community this week, when a Redditor shared about the couple's age gap of 24 years.
They wrote: “French president Emmanuel Macron (43) is 25 years younger than his wife (68). They first met when he was a 15 year-old schoolboy and she was his teacher.”
Numerous people have commented on the post, with one writing, "But technically, also, she could have been his mother," while another simply said: "Seriously?!"
Another joked: "You imagine the plot twist is that she was the teacher who told him he would never amount to anything."
The couple are believed to have started their affair when Macron was 16, the details of which were discussed in the president’s biography Emmanuel Macron: A Perfect Young Man, penned by writer Anne Fulda.
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According to Fulda’s accounts, Macron’s parents had thought their son was dating Brigitte’s daughter, Laurence, before the truth was revealed by a family friend and he was pulled out of the school.
Speaking to the author about the moment she found out, Macron’s mum Francoise Nogues-Macron said: “We just couldn’t believe it. What is clear is that when Emmanuel met Brigitte, we couldn’t just say, ‘That’s great’.”
"Brigitte was his teacher and a married mother-of-three, but while they disapproved of the relationship," Francoise added: “What mattered to me was not the fact he was having a relationship with Brigitte but that he was alive and there weren’t any problems.”
Although the marriage has faced criticism over the years, Brigitte decided to speak out about the age gap for the first time in 2017.
In a translated interview with French Elle, she said: "There are times in your life where you need to make vital choices. And for me, that was it. So, what has been said over the 20 years, it's insignificant. Of course, we have breakfast together—me and my wrinkles, him with his youth—but it's like that."
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The 68-year-old continued: "If I did not make that choice, I would have missed out on my life. I had a lot of happiness with my children and, at the same time, felt I had to live 'this love,' as Prévert used to say, to be fully happy."
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Topics: World News, Celebrity, France