London Daily

Focus on the big picture.
Wednesday, Dec 10, 2025

Autistic interviewers ask French President Macron: "Why did you marry your teacher?"

Autistic interviewers ask French President Macron: "Why did you marry your teacher?"

The question addressed to the French President about his marriage to his high school teacher was personal and unusual, in a country where politicians try not to reveal their private lives. Even the interviewer who collected the question from the autistic students didn't have the courage to ask it. Finally he presented Macron with the question on a paper without reading it, and the President read from the page out loud.
"He is the President, he should serve as an example and not marry his teacher," read Emmanuel Macron and laughed, along with the others present in the room. Then he answered the question seriously.

Macron met with interviewers on the autistic continuum, on behalf of their newspaper "Le Papotin", which was founded in 1990 in a day-care centre in the Paris area.

Over the years, Le Papotin's unpaid but enthusiastic staff have interviewed several French personalities, including Presidents Nicolas Sarkozy and Jacques Chirac. The interview with Macron was filmed in Paris in November, and was broadcast on television at the weekend.

The editors of the newspaper defined the interviewers as "unconventional journalists", and they asked the 45-year-old President a series of personal questions that regular journalists dare not ask.

They asked Macron about his marriage to his teacher, Brigitte, his circle of friends, his financial situation, his relationship with Vladimir Putin and other topics.

The interview gave Macron an opportunity to demonstrate humanity and sensitivity, for a change, in the midst of his second term as President.

Brigitte Macron, who is 24 years older than the President, met Emmanuel when he was a high school student and taught him theatre. At that time she was married and a mother of three. The two fell in love and had an affair, and Brigitte divorced and moved to live with Emmanuel in Paris. The couple married in 2007, a decade before Macron became President.

"It's not a question of being an example or not, you understand? When you're in love, the choice is not yours," Macron told interviewers about the beginning of his relationship with Brigitte. "She wasn't really my teacher, she was my theatre teacher, it's not exactly the same," the French President stated.

When one of the interviewers asked the President: "Do you have a lot of money?", Macron replied that today he earns (directly and as official salary) less than the salary he earned before entering politics, when he was a banker.

On his relationship with Russian President Putin, Macron commented: "The paradox is that when you meet him, it's not that he's an unpleasant person."

About his circle of friends, Macron said, honestly: "This is not the best job for someone who wants a lot of friends."

After half an hour of being interviewed, Macron thanked the interviewers and praised them for their work. He had escaped lightly. In one earlier session the intrepid journalists had suggested: “Shouldn’t we put young people in the Senate instead of all those old croutons?”
Comments

Micron 3 year ago
The short answer to the first one is: because 30 years ago she was hot.

Newsletter

Related Articles

0:00
0:00
Close
UK Officials Push Back at Trump Saying European Leaders ‘Talk Too Much’ About Ukraine
UK Warns of Escalating Cyber Assault Linked to Putin’s State-Backed Operations
UK Consumer Spending Falters in November as Households Hold Back Ahead of Budget
UK Orders Fresh Review of Prince Harry’s Security Status After Formal Request
U.S. Authorises Nvidia to Sell H200 AI Chips to China Under Security Controls
Trump in Direct Assault: European Leaders Are Weak, Immigration a Disaster. Russia Is Strong and Big — and Will Win
"App recommendation" or disguised advertisement? ChatGPT Premium users are furious
"The Great Filtering": Australia Blocks Hundreds of Thousands of Minors From Social Networks
Mark Zuckerberg Pulls Back From Metaverse After $70 Billion Loss as Meta Shifts Priorities to AI
Nvidia CEO Says U.S. Data-Center Builds Take Years while China ‘Builds a Hospital in a Weekend’
Indian Airports in Turmoil as IndiGo Cancels Over a Thousand Flights, Stranding Thousands
Hollywood Industry on Edge as Netflix Secures Near-$60 Bln Loan for Warner Bros Takeover
Drugs and Assassinations: The Connection Between the Italian Mafia and Football Ultras
Hollywood megadeal: Netflix acquires Warner Bros. Discovery for 83 billion dollars
The Disregard for a Europe ‘in Danger of Erasure,’ the Shift Toward Russia: Trump’s Strategic Policy Document
Two and a Half Weeks After the Major Outage: A Cloudflare Malfunction Brings Down Multiple Sites
UK data-regulator demands urgent clarity on racial bias in police facial-recognition systems
Labour Uses Biscuits to Explain UK Debt — MPs Lean Into Social Media to Reach New Audiences
German President Lays Wreath at Coventry as UK-Germany Reaffirm Unity Against Russia’s Threat
UK Inquiry Finds Putin ‘Morally Responsible’ for 2018 Novichok Death — London Imposes Broad Sanctions on GRU
India backs down on plan to mandate government “Sanchar Saathi” app on all smartphones
King Charles Welcomes German President Steinmeier to UK in First State Visit by Berlin in 27 Years
UK Plans Major Cutback to Jury Trials as Crown Court Backlog Nears 80,000
UK Government to Significantly Limit Jury Trials in England and Wales
U.S. and U.K. Seal Drug-Pricing Deal: Britain Agrees to Pay More, U.S. Lifts Tariffs
UK Postpones Decision Yet Again on China’s Proposed Mega-Embassy in London
Head of UK Budget Watchdog Resigns After Premature Leak of Reeves’ Budget Report
Car-sharing giant Zipcar to exit UK market by end of 2025
Reports of Widespread Drone Deployment Raise Privacy and Security Questions in the UK
UK Signals Security Concerns Over China While Pursuing Stronger Trade Links
Google warns of AI “irrationality” just as Gemini 3 launch rattles markets
Top Consultancies Freeze Starting Salaries as AI Threatens ‘Pyramid’ Model
Macron Says Washington Pressuring EU to Delay Enforcement of Digital-Regulation Probes Against Meta, TikTok and X
UK’s DragonFire Laser Downs High-Speed Drones as £316m Deal Speeds Naval Deployment
UK Chancellor Rejects Claims She Misled Public on Fiscal Outlook Ahead of Budget
Starmer Defends Autumn Budget as Finance Chief Faces Accusations of Misleading Public Finances
EU Firms Struggle with 3,000-Hour Paperwork Load — While Automakers Fear De Facto 2030 Petrol Car Ban
White House launches ‘Hall of Shame’ site to publicly condemn media outlets for alleged bias
UK Budget’s New EV Mileage Tax Undercuts Case for Plug-In Hybrids
UK Government Launches National Inquiry into ‘Grooming Gangs’ After US Warning and Rising Public Outcry
Taylor Swift Extends U.K. Chart Reign as ‘The Fate of Ophelia’ Hits Six Weeks at No. 1
250 Still Missing in the Massive Fire, 94 Killed. One Day After the Disaster: Survivor Rescued on the 16th Floor
Trump: National Guard Soldier Who Was Shot in Washington Has Died; Second Soldier Fighting for His Life
UK Chancellor Reeves Defends Tax Rises as Essential to Reduce Child Poverty and Stabilise Public Finances
No Evidence Found for Claim That UK Schools Are Shifting to Teaching American English
European Powers Urge Israel to Halt West Bank Settler Violence Amid Surge in Attacks
"I Would Have Given Her a Kidney": She Lent Bezos’s Ex-Wife $1,000 — and Received Millions in Return
European States Approve First-ever Military-Grade Surveillance Network via ESA
UK to Slash Key Pension Tax Perk, Targeting High Earners Under New Budget
UK Government Announces £150 Annual Cut to Household Energy Bills Through Levy Reforms
×