Mrs Macron ‘scared stiff ’ to become first lady
BRIGITTE MACRON confessed to being “scared stiff ” at the prospect of being France’s first lady and unsure if she was up to the job, according to a book charting her husband Emmanuel’s rise to power this year.
In A Character from a Novel, out yesterday, author Philippe Besson relays conversations with Mr Macron, 39, and his wife, 64, in the run-up to French presidential elections in April and May this year after shadowing the couple throughout the campaign.
In one extract published by Nouvel Obs, the author recounts Mrs Macron’s reaction to a poll in February placing her husband in pole position in the first round of the election.
He writes: “Brigitte, who had taken the habit of calling me practically every day, unburdened herself on me to say: ‘Up until now, deep down, I had always refused to believe [he could win] or rather I had always refused to imagine it. But with all these polls, I understand that it is becoming possible, and its scares me stiff – you cannot imagine’.”
Mr Macron promised his wife would have her own official status, but after a petition opposing the idea of an official first lady, he compromised with an official role without a budget.
In another extract, journalists get short shrift, with Mr Macron saying: “I don’t want to play with them. Frankly some are to work ethics what Mother Teresa was to drugs. They give me morality lessons while they’ve been steeped in cronyism for years.”
Yesterday, Mr and Mrs Macron were in Greece on his first foreign state visit, where he was due to outline his plans to “refound Europe”.