Golshifteh Farahani linked to Macron slap claim in May 2025
Golshifteh Farahani is at the center of a new claim about the May 2025 moment when Brigitte Macron appeared to slap Emmanuel Macron after the couple arrived at Hanoi airport in Vietnam. Florian Tardif says the trigger was a message Brigitte Macron saw on the president’s phone, turning a short video clip into a story about private communication, not just public behavior.
The claim comes from Tardif’s book A (almost) perfect couple and a radio interview about it. He said he spoke with more than 70 sources, including the First Lady of France, and added that the messages he was shown were “quite advanced,” including lines such as “you are very beautiful.”
Hanoi airport and the video
In May 2025, cameras captured two hands belonging to Brigitte Macron landing on Emmanuel Macron’s face when the plane door was opened. The incident took place after the pair arrived at Hanoi airport during a tour of Asia, and the video quickly became the version of events everyone was forced to explain.
After the video was released, the Élysée Palace first said the images were not authentic. A close associate of the French president later described the episode as a common quarrel for couples, and Macron’s entourage later said it was a moment when the president and his wife were relaxing for the last time before the start of the trip, playing.
Tardif names Farahani
Tardif said, “what happened was that Brigitte Macron saw a message from a famous person, the Iranian actress Golfitech Farahani.” He also said, “I write the name because there were rumors circulating in Paris. What I am writing is not a rumor. I made it clear at the Elysee that it is not their version.”
He went further in the interview, saying, “the French president had a platonic love affair with the actress for several months. They had told me this repeatedly. The messages they showed me were quite advanced, of the style of 'you are very beautiful', etc.” That is the sharpest allegation in the book: not the slap itself, but the private exchange Tardif says Brigitte Macron saw before it.
Élysée response and fallout
By the time Tardif was describing the exchange, the official line had already shifted more than once. First came the denial that the images were authentic, then the explanation that it was a couple’s quarrel, then the softer description of the pair playing before the trip began. Each version tried to shrink the political damage of a video that invited a very different reading.
Tardif also said, “Today they regretted their reaction because they could have given the image that Brigitte and Emmanuel Macron were a 'normal' couple and not a perfect couple. After all, this was the narrative they were giving us since the beginning of Macron's mandate.” For readers, the practical takeaway is simple: the headline clip has now been tied to a named actress, and the story has moved from body language to the much harder terrain of what was on the phone.
