A new book claims that Brigitte Macron slapped French President Emmanuel Macron after discovering messages on his phone from Iranian actress Golshifteh Farahani during a state visit to Vietnam last year, reigniting public debate about the incident that briefly captivated global media.
French journalist Florian Tardif, a writer with Paris Match, makes the allegation in his book titled “An (Almost) Perfect Couple,” published Wednesday. According to Tardif, the slap occurred as the presidential couple prepared to disembark their plane in Hanoi in May 2025, moments after Brigitte had allegedly seen a message from Farahani on her husband’s phone.
Tardif claims Macron had told the 42-year-old actress “I find you very pretty” in one of the messages and that the two had maintained contact for several months. The book stops short of alleging a physical affair, with Tardif characterising the relationship as one that created tension within the marriage through suggestion rather than confirmed wrongdoing.
Farahani, an Iranian-born actress widely known as an outspoken critic of the Tehran regime, has categorically denied any romantic involvement with Macron, describing the relationship as entirely platonic.
A source close to Brigitte Macron also denied the book’s central claims, telling Tardif during a March interview that she never looks through her husband’s phone.
“We are squabbling and joking with my wife,” Macron told reporters at the time of the incident, dismissing the viral footage as a private moment taken out of context.
An Élysée Palace official similarly characterised the episode as a lighthearted exchange between the couple. Farahani has since dismissed the affair narrative as a product of people’s need to manufacture romance where none exists.
