According to the authors of the book Madame la Présidente written about Brigitte Macron, François Hollande and Julie Gayet gave the First Lady a less than flattering nickname.
Journalists Ava Djamshidi and Nathalie Schuck, authors of the book Madame la Présidente published a year ago on Brigitte Macron, have revealed the unflattering nickname that François Hollande and Julie Gayet gave the First Lady.
Although she may have suspected that her life would take a very different turn when she became First Lady, Emmanuel Macron's wife could not have expected such an outpouring of hostility towards her, as Gala France points out. Her political involvement alongside her husband, as well as her private life, are the subject of all sorts of speculation. Yet living alongside the Head of State is what drives her. The former French teacher, who is regularly scrutinised in public, wouldn't trade being First Lady for the world. "When you're the wife of the Head of State, you have duties. It's five years of your life. I do it with all my heart," Brigitte Macron told France Info on 10 July 2020. Even though she puts all her heart into her work, according to the authors of Madame la Présidente, Brigitte Macron got wind of a cruel nickname given to her by François Hollande and Julie Gayet: "La vieille" (the old one).
A considerable age difference that has attracted a lot of attention
Brigitte Macron and Julie Gayet have reportedly had no day-to-day contact with each other. The First Lady simply bumped into François Hollande's companion at the tribute to Johnny Hallyday at the Madeleine and at Simone Veil's admission into the Panthéon. But that didn't stop the actress and her partner François Hollande from making fun of the age difference between the head of state and the former literature teacher. According to the authors: "Before the presidential election, many guests heard them laughing as they explained that Emmanuel Macron was obliged to run in 2017, because his wife would be too old in 2022."
Twenty-four years of difference that has already generated a lot of headlines. At the start of her romance with Emmanuel Macron, who was in the same class as her daughter at school, the First Lady's family reportedly even received death threats because of the age difference. But at the time of the incident, the former teacher, always keen to project the image of a strong woman, preferred to ignore the issue.
