Emmanuel Macron’s step-daughter has spoken for the first time about her mother’s scandalous affair with the future President of France.
In an interview that will make uncomfortable reading for both Mr Macron and his first lady, Brigitte Macron, Tiphaine Auzière admits she remains wounded by the ‘forbidden relationship’ between a married teacher and teenage pupil.
Ms Auzière, who has just published her first novel, also used her talk with Paris Match to address claims that Brigitte was born male.
Ms Auzière was just 10 when she found out that her teacher mother was seeing a pupil 25 years younger than her.
Brigitte was still married, so her three young children had to put up with constant speculation about the ‘forbidden relationship’ in Amiens, northern France.
Tiphaine Auzière admits she remains wounded by the Macrons’ ‘forbidden relationship’
French President Emmanuel Macron and wife Brigitte Macron have been married since 2007
‘I learned a lot about human nature,’ Ms Auzière, now 40, said in the interview published on Thursday.
‘I know that, in these moments, we must focus on the essential and move forward without taking into account criticism.
‘The attacks, the backbiting, the judgments. It was not yet the era of social networks, but we were in a small provincial town. Everything is known.
‘Despite all this, they stood tall. I gained an open mind, the desire to move forward without listening to peripheral noise, and gained greater tolerance.’
Ms Auzière was particularly upset that her humilated father, André-Louis Auzière, was forced to leave the family home in 1994, even though he did not divorce Brigitte until 2006, allowing Mr Macron to marry her a year later.
‘A family separation can be a sorrow and an opportunity,’ said Ms Auzière. ‘Recomposition can prove to be an enrichment. I have a beloved father and stepfather.’
Brigitte Macron won a libel case against a freelance journalist who had circulated the rumours about her sex last year – the rumours were that she was born a male – but they were untrue
Macron began his affair when he was a pupil of Brigitte, who was 25 years older than him
Tiphaine said she always spoke about Mr Auzière in the present tense, even though he died in 2019, aged 68.
Paris Match describes how ‘Tiphaine Auzière was a child when the scandal broke.’
The magazine describes how ‘young Emmanuel often rang the bell at the Auzière home and the rumours grew.
‘Rumours which naturally had an impact on the three children of the household.’
Ms Auzière’s sister, Laurence, was 17 years old at the time, and a classmate of Emmanuel Macron, who is the same age.
Ms Auzière said the rumours of a ‘forbidden relationship’ were horrific for all the children, including her brother, Sébastien, then 19.
All were pupils at La Providence, the Roman Catholic high school in Amiens, where Brigitte was a drama teacher.
Ms Auzière, whose new legal novel is called Assizes – in reference to a criminal court – said she was also wounded at claims on social media that Brigitte was born male.
Auzière was just 10 when she found out that her mother was seeing the future president
‘I have concerns about the level of society when I hear what is circulating on social networks about my mother being a man,’ she said.
‘The confidence with which it is said, and the credibility given to it is proclaimed. How can we resist disinformation on social networks?’
Brigitte Macron won a libel case against a freelance journalist who had circulated the rumours about her sex last year.
Ms Auzière, a qualified lawyer, now lives in Calais with her husband and two children.
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