France’s first lady was initially reluctant to marry the future President Emmanuel Macron because he was 25 years younger and ‘might want children’, it has emerged.
Retired teacher Brigitte Macron, who is now 65, already had a husband and three children when she had an affair with her teenage pupil.
As their relationship progressed, Mr Macron, now 40, asked for her hand in marriage, but she initially told close friend Pascale Bourdel she felt too old.
‘One day, Brigitte said to me ‘Emmanuel wants us to get married’,’ said Ms Bourdel.
Documentary Brigitte Macron: A French Novel presented Mrs Macron (pictured with Macron) as her younger husband’s coach and muse and the couple as very much in love
Macron (pictured as a teenager) was in her literature class and attending the theatre workshop she ran at a Catholic high school in Amiens
‘She was a little reluctant and I told her that I could not see why, and she said to me, ‘You do realise how old he is, and how old I am? Maybe he’ll want children.’
Ms Bourdel replied: ‘So, Brigitte, you’re happy with him, choose happiness!”
The exchange was recounted in a new France 3 TV documentary called ‘Brigitte Macron: A French Novel’.
The Macrons ended up getting married in the Channel beach resort of Le Touquet in 2007, but not before causing extreme angst among those closest to them.
Mrs Macron’s youngest daughter, Tiphaine Auzière, 34, told the documentary she was just nine when she learned of the affair.
The film marked the first time the family have spoken out about the romance that blossomed after Macron began seeing his drama teacher (pictured in the 1990s)
‘They were quite smitten and it was quite obvious between them and very difficult,’ said Ms Auzière.
Mr Macron was just 16 when he declared his love for the then Mrs Auzière, his drama teacher.
Her first husband, André-Louis Auzière, moved out of the family home in Amiens, and went to live in Lille.
Mr Macron’s doctor parents asked Mrs Auzière to stop seeing him until he was 18 but she said ‘I can’t promise you anything,’ according to the documentary.
Instead, Mr Macron was sent to Paris to continue his education, and they continued seeing each until the Auzières finally divorced.
Tiphaine Auzière (left) has revealed how, at the age of nine, she watched her mother Brigitte Macron (right) fall for a 15-year-old Emmanuel Macron
Despite such trauma, Tiphaine Auzière said: ‘If I had to present a vision of love, it’s Emmanuel and Mummy. When they are together, it’s almost as if the world does not exist.’
In other recent media interviews, Ms Auzière has called her mother a ‘remarkable warrior’, who gave Mr Macron a great deal of confidence.
As his teacher she used to stand off stage and tell him ‘to raise his voice’, for example, said Ms Auzière.
She added: ‘I had parents who did things intelligently* things were done gradually.
‘My dad and my mummy always took care to protect us, to not expose us and to manage things properly so that we suffered as little as possible.
‘My dad worked in Lille during the week and, I was with my mom when she went to see Emmanuel.’
Mr Macron has since admitted that the young children of Tiphanie and her sister and brother are ‘enough’ for him, and he does not regret not having any of his own.
Mrs Macron would not be interviewed for the documentary, but is said to have sanctioned close friends and family talking about her.
She is quoted in the film as saying: ‘I know that I hurt my children and it’s the thing for which I most reproach myself but if I hadn’t made that choice I would have missed out on my life.’
Mrs Macron suffered a great deal of criticism in Amiens, where her family owned a chain of bakeries.
In a macabre twist, the documentary compared the Macron affair to the case of Gabrielle Russier, a teacher in Marseilles who committed suicide in 1969 after being convicted of seducing a 16-year-old in her class.