Cameras have captured a family scandal between French President Emmanuel Macron and his wife Brigitte during his Asian tour, the first stop of which is Vietnam.
Journalists filmed Macron being punched in the face by his wife before getting off the plane, and seconds later she refuses to take his hand on the plane's stairs.
The Elysee Palace was quick to deny the obvious and said that it was a “moment of intimacy”. Macron's office initially denied the authenticity of the footage before it was confirmed as real. The AP agency distributed the video. A close aide to the president later described the incident as harmless.
“It was a moment when the president and his wife were relaxing for the last time before the trip, joking around,“ another source told reporters.
Macron's visit to Vietnam, the first by a French president in nearly a decade, comes as he seeks to boost France's influence in the region. On Tuesday, he will meet with Vietnamese students and energy sector representatives. Macron then travels to Indonesia and then Singapore.