Who is Brigitte Macron, the controversial first lady who slapped the French president?

This week, French first lady Brigitte Macron has been at the center of a controversy over a video in which she is seen slapping the French president during an official visit to Vietnam.

Before getting off the presidential plane, cameras from Associated Press captured the moment when the aircraft door is opened. Behind is Emmanuel Macron talking to his wife when she suddenly slaps him violently with both hands.

Macron looks surprised, turns quickly and with a nervous smile, waves to the media.

From Hanoi, the French president denied that he and his wife had a "domestic quarrel" and assured that they were "joking."

For its part, the Élysée Palace also assured that Macron and the first lady were only joking.

"It was a moment when the president and his wife were relaxing before starting the trip, joking with each other. ... It was a moment of complicity. No more was needed to give material to conspiracy theorists," explained a member of the presidential entourage.

This scandal is just one more of those that the presidential couple has been accumulating. But who is Brigitte Macron?

Brigitte Macron, the teacher who fell in love with her 15-year-old student

Brigitte Marie Claude Trogneux was born on April 13, 1953 in Amiens, France and comes from a family of well-known chocolatiers.

The first lady studied literature in Lille and Strasbourg, and before meeting Emmanuel Macron worked as a literature, Latin and theater teacher.

Her love story with the now-president began at Liceo la Providence, a Jesuit school in Amiens, when she led a theater workshop in which a young Emmanuel Macron participated. She was 40 years old and her student just 15.

At the time, Brigitte had been married since 1974 to banker André-Louis Auzière and had three children with him: Sebastien, Laurence and Tiphaine.

At first, everything started very discreetly, but once Macron's parents discovered the young man's affair with his teacher, they decided to put the matter behind them, sending him to finish high school in Paris.

It is at that time that Macron told Brigitte, "Whatever you do, I will marry you!"

Also, Macron's parents asked Brigitte to stay away from the young man until he turned 18.

A request to which Brigitte Trogneux replied: "I can't promise anything".

To the renowned magazine Paris Match, the first lady declared that "writing brought us together every Friday and triggered an incredible closeness."

The age difference between the two sparked a scandal in Brigitte's family, as their relationship could fall under the scope of Article 227-27 of the French Penal Code, which criminalizes the sexual abuse of a minor, and which stipulates since 1980 that a teacher who engages in sexual relations with a student over the age of 15 can serve a sentence of up to three years in prison.

Despite the obstacles, Emmanuel Macron and Brigitte Trogneux married in 2007.

From 2007 to 2015, Brigitte Macron taught at the prestigious private high school Saint-Louis de Gonzague, in the 16th arrondissement of Paris. At that school, she taught literature to Frederic and Jean Arnault, sons of French millionaire Bernard Arnault.

The first lady left her teaching career in 2015, when Macron was appointed minister of the economy under the socialist government of Francois Hollande.

Brigitte Macron, "the president of Macron's fan club"

That same year, Macron opened the doors of his office to the cameras of Canal+ in which his wife was seen attending his cabinet meetings. "My wife is not part of my cabinet and is not paid by the taxpayers," Macron, then serving as economy minister, stated at the time.

"Her opinion is important to me, and that's what she's there for, because you can't work well if you're not happy," Macron stated at the time. His wife replied, "I am the president of his fan club."

In 2016, Paris Match put the couple on its cover and stated that she seeks to protect her husband from public opinion:

"I may take life easy, but I still keep my ear to the ground. And since every night we debrief together and repeat what we have heard from each other, I have to pay attention to everything and do everything I can to protect him."

Brigitte Macron's life as first lady

Since Emmanuel Macron won the presidency in 2017, the first lady has played a key role in her husband's political career, especially in the creation of the En Marche! movement, founded by the president in 2016 as a platform for his presidential candidacy.

Although Brigitte did not hold a formal position within the party, she played a key role as advisor, reviewing speeches and helping to structure the electoral strategy.

Within the presidential entourage, Brigitte Macron's presence is seen as essential in the political trajectory of the French president.

In 2018, the first lady launched the LIVE project (L'Institut des Vocations pour l'Emploi). This initiative is a support program for young adults over the age of 25 who are neither employed nor in training.

In June 2019, Brigitte Macron was also elected president of the Fondation Hôtels de Paris-Hôtels de France. The foundation works to improve the day-to-day life of patients and caregivers in the Health sector.