French President Emmanuel Macron is embroiled in fresh controversy after a new book claims his wife Brigitte Macron slapped him after allegedly seeing flirtatious messages involving an Iranian-born actress on his phone during an official trip abroad last year.The claims are made in journalist Florian Tardif’s book “An (Almost) Perfect Couple”, which reveals that tensions within the couple increased after Brigitte saw messages allegedly sent between Emmanuel Macron and the actress. Golshifteh Farahani During a visit to Vietnam in May last year.It is being told that the incident happened when the couple was getting ready to leave their plane in Hanoi. Cameras later showed Brigitte pushing the President and the video went viral online.According to quotes cited by the French newspaper Le Parisien, Brigitte had reportedly read a message from Farahani on her husband’s phone moments before the public exchange. One of the messages reportedly included the line: “I find you very beautiful,” it is said to have been sent by President Macron.Journalist Florian Tardif claimed in an interview that the exchanges were linked to a “spiritual relationship” between the president and the actress.According to Tardif, whose book, “An (Almost) Perfect Couple,” was published on Wednesday, President Macron told Farahani in a message, “I find you very beautiful.”He added, “The French President had an affair with the actress for several months.”According to the book, this situation created tension inside the presidential marriage and contributed to the “slapping” moment on the plane’s stairs that went viral.However, the Elysee (the official residence of the President of France in Paris) has rejected the claims. A representative of Brigitte Macron rejected the allegations and insisted that she would never check her husband’s phone.“Brigitte Macron explicitly denied this account directly to the author on March 5, specifying that she never looks at her husband’s mobile phone,” a representative told Le Parisien.Golshifteh Farahani, who has long faced rumors of an affair with the French president, has also denied any romantic involvement.“I think some people lack love and they need to create this kind of romance to fill (the void),” he told Le Point in March.Viral footage from Hanoi shows Macron turning towards his wife as she pushes him in the face. He appeared stunned for a while before regaining his composure and greeting the camera.At the time, the Elysée dismissed the incident as minor. A close aide said: “This was the moment when the President and his wife were laughing and relaxing for the last time before the trip began.”Macron himself later described it as flippant behavior and said the reaction had been blown out of proportion to “a kind of planetary catastrophe.”
