Brigitte Trogneux lays down the law to Macron

A new documentary reveals just how Brigitte Trogneux coached and chided her husband during his meteoric campaign | WATCH

Emmanuel Macron filmed with wife Brigitte Trogneux. Picture: TP1

France has been shown how Brigitte Trogneux, its new first lady, coached and chided her husband during his meteoric campaign.

Ms Trogneux, 64, the president-elect’s former schoolteacher, is protective, critical and ever-present in a fly-on-the-wall documentary shot by a TF1 television unit that spent eight months with the candidate. The 90-minute film, Behind the Scenes of a Victory, was broadcast a day after Emmanuel Macron, 39, was elected.

He emerges as a boyish, but calm, boss of enthusiastic young staff, but he defers to Ms Trogneux, the drama teacher at his school in Amiens with whom he fell in love when he was 16. He also talks about the difficulties of having a much older wife.

Macron and Trogneux after the election. Picture: AFP

Unwinding after the first TV debate in April, Mr Macron asks for a chocolate. Ms Trogneux stops him, saying: “I don’t want you to eat that rubbish.” He meekly asks for water instead.

After he was hit on the head at a farm show by a protester’s egg, Mr Macron jokes with advisers and watches football on a phone. His wife asks what he’s up to. “Monaco has beaten OM (Marseilles),” he says.

“We don’t give a damn”, she says, trying to take the phone and telling him to take care of a financial matter instead.

Priceless! 👌🏻#LesCoulissesduneVictoire pic.twitter.com/ntwIy0c2Zq

— Nicolas Sully (@Nicolas_Sully) May 8, 2017

Mr Macron often seeks his wife’s approval, but she does not always give it. Lying on a sofa after his biggest rally, which drew a crowd of 20,000, he basks in the praise of his staff.

He turns to his wife. “Did you like it? Or not?”

She does not reply. “Tell me, is it rather yes ... or no? Was it rather yes?” he asks.

After a pause, she says: “Darling. We’ll talk about it alone. You know that.”

Ms Trogneux is also seen rehearsing her former pupil before his speeches.

In another documentary, also broadcast on Tuesday (AEST), Mr Macron explains why he decided in March to broach and deny rumours he is gay and involved in a relationship with a senior broadcast executive.

Emmanuel Macron snapped after leaving the hairdresser following his victory.

The whole country had heard the false stories, he says. He was furious about the misogyny and homophobia behind the tales, he tells two journalists. “(They say) it’s not possible that this guy who has a wife 24 years older than him is anything but a homosexual or a hidden gigolo,” he said. “If I had been 24 years older there would be no fuss. If I was gay, I’d say so.”

The Times