As of the 7th of May, Emmanuel Macron was elected the President of France and since then more and more people around me have started talking about his wife Brigitte Trogneux. While in my French class at school, we had been discussing the election and giving our thoughts on Marine Le Pen and Emmanuel Macron and I’ve noticed that besides a few of us looking at the election from a political point of view, a lot of people, with me included, kept going on about the 24 year age gap between him and his wife.
My friend pointed out to me in class while everyone was making fun of the age gap between the couple that if it were the other way round, there wouldn’t be a whole lot of talk about it. Donald Trump is 23 years older than Melania Trump, and I didn’t see a huge outcry about this so why is everyone talking about Trogneux and Macron? Whenever an older woman is in a relationship with a younger male, the media seems to a make a big deal out of it and never fails to mention it whenever talking about them.
All over social media people are making fun of Brigitte Macron. Hurtful comments about her physique, questionable jokes about the couple and many people online have made her a recurring subject of mockery. Not only that but a video was also released on April 27th on Taiwanese television where an animation was made of the couple on their wedding day where Brigitte is seen using a walker.
Since the first round of the French presidential election, the Foreign Press has been very interested in Brigitte Macron, the wife of Emmanuel Macron and their romantic love story. In an interview with La Nouvelle Edition, Jean-Marie Le Pen made comments about the relationship between Macron and Trogneux and even nicknamed Macron, “Le Mari de Madame Cougar” meaning ‘the husband of the cougar’.
Brigitte Macron’s youngest daughter from her first marriage, Tiphaine Auzière who is a parliamentary candidate for Emmanuel Macron’s party; La Republique En Marche, has defended her mother from what she believes are ageist and sexist insults.
Before the presidential inauguration, the 32-year-old lawyer was interviewed by the French Television channel BFMTV and told them: ““I think we cannot remain indifferent to this, and now I do not want to give any importance to people who convey this kind of stuff, because I find it totally outrageous in France in the 21st century to make such attacks.”
