French First Lady Brigitte Macron Addresses 24-Year Age Difference with Emmanuel Macron

Even before Emmanuel Macron was elected president of France, his relationship with 64-year-old wife Brigitte Macron has been the object of close scrutiny (read here) and an exhausting amount of ageism due to the fact that Brigitte is 25 years older than her husband.

In a new interview with French Elle Magazine , the French first lady has spoken for the first time about the challenges of being married to Emmanuel.

In her first interview since the election, she speaks about her love story with the 39-year-old which started more than 20 years ago, explaining that “Emmanuel’s only fault is to be younger than me”.

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She also revealed that she was putting her own happiness ahead of the rest of society’s opinions when she decided to pursue a relationship with Emmanuel.

“There are times in your life where you need to make vital choices,” she said.

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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Speaking about the public pressure which forced her husband to abandon their plans to give her the official title of First Lady, she claimed she isn’t bothered about their opinion.

”I don’t feel like a First Lady. That’s the translation of an American expression and I don’t like anything about it. When I hear the term, I always feel like looking behind me and asking ‘who are we talking about?.

It is important that everything is made very clear: like those before me, I will take on my public role but the French will know the resources at my disposal,” she added.

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The First Lady whose age gap with the president caused a wide outrage around the world, following how she started dating him while he was her teenage student at school, also said:

”When I read about us, I always get the impression that I’m reading someone else’s story. Our story is so simple. If I hadn’t chosen this, I would have missed out on my life,’ she said.

Mrs Macron described as ”senseless” the time when she used to meet her hubby, then her student, to work on adapting a version of Eduardo De Filippo’s The Art of Comedy. She explained it was then she realised their relationship was changing.

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She further revealed that she tried to resist her growing affection for her young student and told him to go to Paris to finish his school years.

”There was nothing between us then but gossip was rife. I was only preoccupied about my children then,” she said.

She said the story between the couple evolved slowly and that the age gap between them ”is nothing”.

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Brigitte, who has three children with her ex-husband whom she divorced in 2006 and married Macron in 2007, has no child yet with the President.

The happy couple is currently enjoying a romantic holiday in Marseilles, the south of France.

Photo credit: Vogue/Getty Images