French President Emmanuel Macron and his wife, first lady Brigitte, appeared to have been caught in a domestic dispute on Monday.

As the French first couple prepared to disembark their aircraft after arriving in Vietnam for a state visit, media cameras captured video of Macron being slapped or shoved on his face by his wife just as the plane's door was opened, according to Fox News.

The French president had downplayed the incident as little more than a couple playing around and joking with each other, but analysis of the video seems to suggest that the violence on display was real.

Macron slapped and shoved by wife

When the aircraft's door was first opened after the French president and first lady arrived in Hanoi, Vietnam, on Monday evening, Macron was spotted being in the doorway being physically accosted by somebody wearing red who was just out of view.

A pair of hands was seen slapping or shoving Macron's face, but the obviously surprised president quickly realized he was in view of the media's cameras and instantly began to smile and wave as though everything was fine.

Just moments later, as both the president and first lady emerged from the plane to descend the stairway, he offered his arm for her to hold as they walked, but she refused and instead held the railing. After the couple reached the tarmac, Macron was further observed with his hands balled up in fists.

Emmanuel Macron’s wife slapped him in the face and then refused to hold his arm pic.twitter.com/P6MhC5wIKe

— Libs of TikTok (@libsoftiktok) May 26, 2025

Macron says he and wife were just "horsing around"

The incident went viral on social media, but France24 reported that President Macron and his office downplayed it as being no big deal, as Macron later told reporters, "We are horsing around and, really, joking with my wife."

He went on to insist that the matter was "overblown" like so many other alleged conspiracy theories, and suggested that "everyone needs to calm down" instead of treating it as "a sort of geo-planetary catastrophe."

Likewise, Macron's office said in a statement, "It was a moment where the president and his wife were decompressing one last time before the start of the trip by horsing around. It’s a moment of complicity. It was all that was needed to give ammunition to the conspiracy theorists."

Expert says body language reveals seriousness of incident

That explanation may satisfy some people, but the Daily Mail reported that body language expert Judi James wasn't buying it, as she told the outlet, "I would not describe the gesture we saw from inside the plane as one of 'play' as has been claimed."

"Pushing your partner in the face with your hand so hard their head reels to the side and they need to put a hand out to keep balance, especially with what looks like an extra 'shove' at the end of the contact, should not be normalized by calling it 'fun' just to save political face," she continued. "This will inevitably be turned into a 'joke' by some people, but I would call it genuinely shocking, and I would say the same if it was any other couple walking down any street, no matter who did it to who."

James further took note of Macron's clenched fist and other signs that the incident was serious, and stated, "There is no follow-up shared laughter, grins or teasing rituals, Macron performs a 'think-on-your-feet' wave before stepping back in towards his wife, but he seems to touch his face too, in a checking gesture."

The body language expert also flipped the roles of the assailant and assailee, and surmised of the different expectations for the two genders, "If this had been his hand and her face would it have been called 'playful?' So it should not from her to him."