Age is nothing but a number, so the saying goes... but how many people actually have the guts to ignore a resounding age gap for the sake of love, especially when a man marries a woman 25-years his senior? In some conservative cultures, that would be considered an abomination, as it is like marrying someone the age of your own mother. But that is not the case with the first man and woman of France, Emmanuel & Brigitte Macron, who defied a 25-year age gap to graduate from a pupil-teacher relationship to falling crazily in love and eventually getting married.
Two Brave Sweethearts
Brigitte Marie-Claude Macron, while teaching high school literature and theater classes, met a 15-year-old very talented and charming young boy in her class who caught her eye instantly. Emmanuel Macron was a natural theater performer, as sharp as a tack. Unlike his shy teenage counterparts, he was a very open brave chap who went on to confess his mad love for her. Brigitte Macron remembers a seventeen-year-old Emmanuel telling her that no matter what she did, he would marry her.
While someone may push that aside as a mere teenage crush that would soon fade off, Emmanuel Macron would not back down and kept pursuing her even after leaving the school. He describes their romance story as a hidden, clandestine affair that many misunderstood before eventually imposing itself.
Having been born to wealthy parents who ran a successful chocolate company, money was clearly not the motivation for Brigitte Macron to fall in love with the current president of France. His rare charm, good looks, persistence, and humor easily swept her off her feet and she found herself spinning in the Macron bubble.
Although French presidents have regularly made headlines with their off-the-grain love lives, the Emmanuel & Brigitte Macron Love Story seems to be the most unique yet.
Francois Hollande, for instance, divorced while in office, after cheating on his wife with a renowned actress. Nicolas Sarkozy married his model girlfriend during his presidency. Elysee Palace clearly seems to be an opera theater of sorts, and the current residents are no less playwrights. Theirs is a rare story of true love and determination that surpasses all barriers and wins in the end.
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— Vogue Magazine (@voguemagazine) May 19, 2017
The heart wants what it wants
Brigitte Macron, who is slated for an official role in Emmanuel Macron's presidency, says that once she decides to move in a certain direction, her will is unstoppable. She ended her marriage spanning over three decades to banker André-Louis Auzière in 2006, only to marry Emmanuel Macron the following year. She sacrificed all the sense of security in the marriage to marry a 29-year-old student and mold him into the bright star that she always saw in him. Mr.President must possess a magic tongue if winning over his high school teacher and convincing the French electorate to vote for him are anything to go by.