Revealed: Iranian actress said to have sparked Brigitte Macron’s infamous ‘slap’ of Emmanuel after she spotted text on his phone, according to new book

Brigitte Macron’s infamous slap at husband Emmanuel was sparked when he saw a text from Iranian actress Golshifteh Farahani on her phone, a new book has claimed.

In the video, which went viral in May last year, the first lady was seen shoving the French president in the face as the couple prepared to get off the plane in Vietnam.

At the time, Macron insisted the incident was “trivial” and said he was just “arguing with my wife, or rather joking.”

However, French journalist Florian Tardif painted a very different picture in his new book titled ‘(Almost) Perfect Couple’, which promises an ‘investigation’ into the ‘forbidden areas’ of husband and wife.

Speaking on RTL radio on Wednesday, Tardif, a Paris Match journalist who has been following the Macrons since 2017, described the infamous moment as a classic ‘couple scene’.

‘What happened to that? [Brigitte Macron]saw a message from a well-known person. Iranian player said: Golshifteh Farahani.

Tardif claims that Macron maintained a ‘platonic’ relationship with the famous star for ‘a few months’, but sent her ‘quite forward messages’ such as ‘I find you very beautiful’.

Born in Tehran, Farahani is a 42-year-old actress currently living in exile for refusing to wear a hijab while appearing in international films.

French President Emmanuel Macron and his wife Brigitte Macron photographed in Athens in April

In the video, which went viral in May last year, the first lady was seen shoving the French president in the face as the couple prepared to get off the plane in Vietnam.

In the interview, Tardif said, “Those close to him told me that, and that’s what I’m saying this morning,” adding that he “corroborated” the story and emphasized that everything in his book was based on “facts.”

The journalist claimed these messages caused ‘tension’ within the couple and led to a heated and ‘significant’ argument on the presidential plane on the Hanoi airport tarmac.

‘This particular scene was made public because there was a misunderstanding on the plane. We thought the debate was over. It wasn’t,” he concluded.

Tardif claimed that the Elysee regretted not being honest about the dispute; “because at that moment they could have shown that they were a couple, not a perfect couple, but a real couple.”

At the time, an Elysee official described the event as ‘a moment when the president and his wife relaxed, laughing one last time before the journey began’.

This is not the first time rumors have emerged about Macron and Farahani.

The actor has previously denied any speculation, but told Gala magazine last year: ‘It comes in waves, it appears, it disappears… I watch, I observe: what can I do? This doesn’t even bother me. What’s the point?’

He added: ‘The question is why people are interested in this kind of story. I think some people have a lack of love and they need to create love like this to fill that void.’

In 2008, Farahani became the first Iran-based actor to star in a Hollywood film since the 1979 revolution, appearing opposite Leonardo DiCaprio in Ridley Scott’s CIA thriller Body of Lies.

She was later banned from working in Tehran by the Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance for not wearing a headscarf at the film’s New York premiere.

In 2011, she was once again condemned by the regime for carrying her chest in a short video to promote the ‘French Oscars’ Césars, for which she was nominated for her role in the immigrant comedy ‘Si Tu Meurs, Je Te Tue’ (If You Die I’ll Kill You).

In the brief black-and-white promo, each actor removed a piece of clothing to dedicate ‘body and soul’ to their art while facing the camera. Farahani chose to show her right breast, saying, “I will add flesh to your dreams.”

The same day, the Islamic Republic’s official Fars news agency issued a statement attacking him, saying the photos showed ‘the hidden, disgusting face of cinema’.

Following anti-regime protests in Tehran in January, in which tens of thousands of civilians were killed by authorities, he took to Instagram to share his solidarity with his country.

‘Iran is burning once again. “My heart beats with the Iranian people,” he wrote.

Born in Tehran, Farahani is a 42-year-old actress currently living in exile for refusing to wear a hijab while appearing in international films.

In 2008, Farahani became the first Iran-based actor to star in a Hollywood film since the 1979 revolution.

She was later banned from working in Tehran by the Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance for not wearing a headscarf at the film’s New York premiere.

Brigitte Macron’s representatives denied to Le Parisien on Wednesday that the scene was linked to the Iranian actress and also stressed that the French First Lady would never check her husband’s phone.

“Brigitte Macron strongly denied this account directly to the author, stating that she never looked at her husband’s mobile phone on March 5,” the president’s entourage said. he said, adding that this detail was not published by the author.

In April, Donald Trump made a sarcastic reference to the infamous incident in a speech at the White House, prompting fierce condemnation across France.

“Then I called France, Macron’s jaw is still healing because his wife treats him so badly,” the US President said at the Easter luncheon at the White House, causing the audience to burst into laughter.

Macron immediately responded and said comments about his marriage were ‘neither elegant nor up to standard’.

The joke sparked widespread outrage among politicians across the country, including Macron’s critics.

Even Manuel Bompard, coordinator of the far-Left France Indomitable party, rushed to her defense.

“You are aware of the extent of my disagreements with the president, but I find it absolutely unacceptable that Donald Trump speaks to him in this way and talks about his wife in this way,” Bompard told broadcaster BFMTV.

The 25-year age difference between France’s first couple has long sparked heated debate.

Brigitte, 73, first met Emmanuel, 48, when she was 15, in a drama class at a Catholic school in Amiens, in northern France.

He was 39 years old, married, with a son and two daughters; the eldest of whom shared a classroom with the future president.

In An (Almost) Perfect Couple, Tardif claims to revisit all the major decisions, turning points and debates that defined Macron’s nine years in office.

He claims that in 2017, at the start of his first term, Macron told a close friend: ‘If Brigitte is unhappy, I will not be able to cope and I will fail in this five-year term.’

Representatives for Golshifteh Farahani did not immediately respond to requests for comment.