Presidential couples are inevitably the subject of much public and media interest, but curiosity about the dynamics at play between French President Emmanuel Macron and wife Brigitte gained even greater intensity over the weekend.

In an unscripted moment that swiftly went viral, Mrs. Macron was seen pushing her husband forcefully by the face just as they were set to disembark from an airplane in Hanoi, Vietnam, spurring all sorts of speculation, debate, and, not surprisingly, salty online memes, as Fox News reports.

Surprising scene unfolds

The unusual interaction involving France's first couple unfolded after the door of their official aircraft opened in preparation for the pair's descent down the stairway.

President Macron was seen standing close to the open door, and it was then that Mrs. Macron's red-suited arms were spotted thrusting outward toward her husband and her hands making forceful contact with his face in a gesture best described as a push.

The French leader looked back toward his wife before almost instantaneously realizing that camera crews had captured the bizarre exchange. WATCH:

President Macron quickly attempted to reclaim the visual narrative by offering a smile and a wave, subsequently starting down the steps with his wife, who appeared to refuse an offer of her husband's arm.

Just joking?

Not surprisingly, the video clip gained traction around the world, forcing President Macron to respond.

Describing what occurred, he said, “We are horsing around and, really, joking with my wife,” and he suggested that the incident had been unnecessarily amplified into “a sort of geo-planetary catastrophe.”

Mr. Macron suggested that social media has done a disservice to its users, not just in this context, but with regard to recent footage some claimed showed him with a bag of cocaine, admonishing, “Everyone needs to calm down.”

Aiding in Macron's attempt to defuse the unflattering airport story was his office, which, as France 24 notes, issued a statement declaring, “It was a moment where the president and his wife were decompressing one last time before the start of the trip by horsing around.”

The official comment added, “It's a moment of complicity. It was all that was needed to give ammunition to the conspiracy theorists.”

Curiosity continues

The incident in Hanoi is just the latest twist in a love story that has piqued the world's curiosity for years, particularly due to the highly unconventional manner in which France's first couple became an item.

As the Daily Mail reminds its readers, Mr. Macron first became acquainted with Brigitte when he was a 15-year-old student and she was his 39-year-old -- married -- teacher, with the then-scandalous pairing leading to a 2007 marriage that to this day still sparks all sorts of rumor, innuendo, and intrigue the world over.