Aside from a body language expert’s analysis of the exchange between Emmanuel and Brigitte Macron, the French president has spoken out about the incident, providing context as to what happened.
After video footage showing the President of France, Emmanuel Macron, and his wife, Brigitte Macron, in an unexpected situation aboard a plane in Vietnam circulated online, body language expert Judi James weighed in on the matter. According to the expert, the moment that unfolded between the couple was far from playful.
The brief but striking footage begins just as the aircraft door opens, revealing Emmanuel standing inside, with crew members partially obscuring him. He appears to engage in conversation, presumably with his wife, who remains out of frame.
Suddenly, a pair of hands — clearly Brigitte’s — enter the camera’s view and deliver a firm push to Emmanuel’s face.
The unexpected gesture visibly jolts the French president, who instinctively turns his head, his expression portraying a flicker of confusion or surprise.
As cameras capture the moment, Emmanuel quickly attempts to regain composure. He offers a brief, “think-on-your-feet” wave and smile to those gathered on the tarmac, then pivots in the direction of Brigitte, still unseen.
The clip then shows the president exiting the aircraft alone, still waving, as Brigitte follows a short distance behind. Once she appears, Emmanuel turns toward her, extending an arm — perhaps as a subtle invitation to unity.
Yet Brigitte walks past without acknowledging the gesture, choosing instead to descend the aircraft steps independently. The two proceed side by side but without physical contact.
The footage, recorded as the pair arrived in Vietnam for the start of their Southeast Asia tour, quickly ignited conversation online.
When analyzing the now-infamous moment, Judi offered a starkly different take from the narrative presented by the French president and his team. Rather than a harmless instance of marital banter, the body language expert described the exchange as “shocking,” noting that Emmanuel’s reaction revealed discomfort rather than amusement.
Observing the president’s immediate response after the shove, Judi pointed out a telling detail: Emmanuel appeared to clench one hand into a fist. “There is no follow-up shared laughter, grins or teasing rituals,” she highlighted, adding that instead of engaging in a lighthearted moment, Emmanuel appears to touch his face in what she termed a “checking gesture.”
Judi directly challenged the notion that the couple had simply been “horsing around.” “I would not describe the gesture we saw from inside the plane as one of ‘play,'” she remarked.
Her analysis also extended to the force of the push itself. “Pushing your partner in the face with your hand so hard their head reels to the side and they need to put a hand out to keep balance, especially with what looks like an extra ‘shove’ at the end of the contact, should not be normalized by calling it ‘fun’ just to save political face,” she warned.
For Judi, the absence of mutual body language cues was just as significant as the shove itself. Reviewing the footage of the pair descending the aircraft stairs, she also pointed out the moment when Emmanuel extended an arm toward Brigitte, which went unacknowledged.
This underscored the frosty undertone that contrasted with claims of playful affection. Adding another layer to her critique, Judi invited viewers to reverse the roles.
“If this had been his hand and her face, would it have been called ‘playful’? So it should not from [sic] her to him,” asserted the expert. In her view, the optics and context of the moment matter, and regardless of public spin, the body language told a far more sobering story.
“This will inevitably be turned into a ‘joke’ by some people but I would call it genuinely shocking and I would say the same if it was any other couple walking down any street, no matter who did it to who [sic],” clarified Judi.
Amid mounting speculation and widespread commentary, Emmanuel took a moment to address the incident publicly during a press briefing in Hanoi on Monday, May 26.
Despite Judi’s reflections discrediting the moment as playful, the French president appeared intent on dialing back the drama surrounding the footage.
“There’s a video showing me joking and teasing my wife and somehow that becomes a sort of geo-planetary catastrophe,” Emmanuel noted. He acknowledged that the footage was authentic but criticized the narratives it had ignited, stating that “people are attributing all kinds of nonsense to them.”
In his view, the online discourse had spiraled into unwarranted territory, fueled by exaggerated interpretations and speculative theorizing. While Emmanuel Macron did not deny the event itself, he took issue with what he characterized as the weaponization of a private marital moment.
Despite his efforts to downplay the incident, the president’s comments have done little to quell debate, especially in light of Judi’s assessment.
For some, Emmanuel’s attempt to reframe the moment as innocuous humor clashes with what the footage may be quietly revealing.
