The bond between France’s future president — at the time still a schoolboy — and his 39-year-old drama teacher sparked controversy when it first became known.
Emmanuel Macron was only 15 when he encountered Madame Brigitte Auzière, a married mother of three whose eldest daughter was one of his classmates.
More than three decades later, there are echoes of that story within the wider Macron family, as the French first lady’s daughter has revealed a romance marked by a similarly striking age difference.
Tiphaine Auzière, 42, has this week made public her relationship with Antoine Lecomte, a 22-year-old kitesurfing instructor.
The news comes as Emmanuel and Brigitte Macron’s marriage continues to appear solid despite their 24-year age gap — and despite periodic moments of public scrutiny, including a widely discussed video that appeared to show Mrs Macron slapping her husband and comments made by Donald Trump about their relationship.
Ms Auzière and Mr Lecomte are understood to have met during the summer in Le Touquet, the chic seaside resort on France’s north-western coast.
Mr Lecomte is a NEOMA Business School student, a competitive kitesurfer and the founder of Mission Kiteboarding.
While working along the coast as a kitesurfing instructor, he introduced Ms Auzière to eFoiling, which uses an electric surfboard that rises above the water.
Tiphaine Auzière, 42, has recently gone public with her relationship with Antoine Lecomte, 22
On Sunday, the couple shared an Instagram video from a van trip to Amsterdam
Mr Lecomte was working on the coast as a kitesurfing instructor when he taught Ms Auzière how to use an eFoil
The Macron family has long owned a holiday home in Le Touquet, and Ms Auzière’s law firm also maintains an office in the resort town.
Our News Outlet caught up with Mr Lecomte last week after he returned to shore from an energetic five-hour training session on the water.
Wearing a full wetsuit, covered in sand and brandishing a sail, the 22-year-old grinned as he admitted: ‘I can appreciate why people are interested because our relationship is very similar to that of her mother, Brigitte, and President Macron.’
He stressed: ‘It’s not a summer fling. It’s love, it’s serious. We have plans for the future.
‘I know a lot of people in Le Touquet and they are all happy for us,’ he added, ‘They say if we are happy then they are happy. Age means nothing when you are in love.
‘Tiphaine may be 20 years older but she is fun, exciting and full of joie de vivre.’
Last week, the pair posted a video of a van trip to Amsterdam on Instagram.
It shows the couple sightseeing, looking at art and staying in a room at the Faralda Hotel, which is built high in a former crane at a disused shipyard, with the caption: ’48h in dam with Madam’.
Although the majority of comments on the video were positive, viewers were quick to draw harsh comparisons between their age gap and that of Ms Auzière’s mother and famous stepfather.
One wrote: ‘Is there some kind of psychological issue in the family? Isn’t there a certain condition where someone wants someone much, much younger than themselves? Or is it a family pattern?’
Another said: ‘When he grows up, he will be the president of the republic.’
Meanwhile, others were quick to point out a double standard, with one furious commenter saying: ‘But what’s the big deal?! You’re all taking this way too seriously. When it comes to an older man, nobody seems to mind, do they… He’s a consenting adult.
‘They’re having a great time, and they’re absolutely right to. I don’t get this crazy obsession with being so harsh on women, you jealous bunch!’
The new relationship comes after the lawyer’s split from controversial French TV host Cyril Hanouna in May 2026.
She was also previously in a civil partnership with gastroenterologist and hepatologist Antoine Choteau until they separated in early 2025.
Speaking to Our News Outlet, Mr Lecomte admitted he didn’t actually know who Tiphaine was when they first met.
‘She came for some efoil lessons at the beginning of the summer, we got on and she came back a few times and then we met up at a party I was invited to.
‘But I had no idea she was Brigitte Macron’s daughter until later; it doesn’t bother me, we get on really well and that is the most important thing, we make each other happy,’ he said.
The lawyer has previously spoken about her experiences as a schoolgirl when her mother began a relationship with Mr Macron
The lawyer is expected to accompany Mr Lecomte to Asia, where he is developing his company
The lawyer split from controversial French TV host Cyril Hanouna in May
Speaking to French magazine Gala, a close friend of the president’s stepdaughter said Ms Auzière and Mr Lecomte have ‘a lot in common’ including ‘a love of Le Touquet and thrills, but also travel and entrepreneurship.’
‘It was immediately obvious between them,’ they added.
Another friend said, ‘Tiphaine is very much like her mother. Like Brigitte, she follows her heart and doesn’t care what other people think. The only opinion that matters to her is that of her family.’
The lawyer is expected to accompany Mr Lecomte to Asia, where he is developing his company.
Ms Auzière has reportedly introduced him to her two children, 12-year-old Élise and Aurèle, ten.
The lawyer has previously spoken about her experiences as a schoolgirl when her mother, then 38, began her relationship with Mr Macron.
At the time, Mr Macron was a teenage pupil at the Providence Catholic school in Amiens, where Ms Macron was a teacher.
‘It forged my temperament and gave me strength,’ she told The Sunday Times in 2024. ‘In any case, I never stopped to think about what people might say, so it hasn’t changed my life. I’ve learnt to live with it and independently of it.’
‘In any case, I never stopped to think about what people might say, so it hasn’t changed my life. I’ve learnt to live with it and independently of it.’
In a separate interview, Ms Auzière said: ‘If I have to give a vision of love, it’s Emmanuel and Mummy. When they are together, it is almost as if the world doesn’t exist.’
Similarly to Mr Lecomte, Mr Macron, too, was a student when he met his future wife. However, he was much younger at 15.
At the time Ms Macron, was married to André-Louis Auzière, with whom she had three children. Mr Macron’s parents removed him from the school once the relationship came to light.
His mother, Francoise Nogues-Macron, told Anne Fulda, author of Emmanuel Macron: A Perfect Young Man: ‘We just couldn’t believe it. What is clear is that when Emmanuel met Brigitte, we couldn’t just say, “That’s great”.’
She added: ‘What mattered to me was not the fact he was having a relationship with Brigitte but that he was alive and there weren’t any problems.’
The president’s father, Jean-Michel Macron, meanwhile said he ‘almost fell off his chair’ upon hearing the news.
Mr Macron eventually married his wife when he was 29 and she was 54. As he became a stepfather to her three adult children, he reportedly told them at the wedding reception: ‘Thanks for accepting us, a not-quite-normal couple.’
Speaking to French magazine Gala, a close friend of the president’s stepdaughter said Ms Auzière and Mr Lecomte have ‘a lot in common’
Footage captures the moment a 15-year-old Emmanuel Macron, left, kissed his 40-year-old teacher, right, two years before he declared he wanted to marry her
The French president poses for a photograph in Le Touquet his wife Brigitte Macron
Ms Macron is said to be delighted about her daughter’s new relationship. A source told Gala: ‘She reacted just like any mother would.
‘All that matters to her is her daughter’s happiness, so she’s very happy to see her thriving. She’ll be delighted to meet Antoine.’
Ms Auzière has in the past defended her mother against what she called sexist and ageist attacks.
Speaking in 2017, when Ms Macron was standing as a parliamentary candidate for her stepfather’s La Republique En Marche party, she said: ‘I think we cannot remain indifferent to this, and now I do not want to give any importance to people who convey this kind of stuff, because I find it totally outrageous in France in the 21st century to make such attacks.
‘These are attacks that we wouldn’t direct at male politicians or at a man who would accompany a female politician.
‘So I think there’s a lot of jealousy, and that this is very inappropriate.’
She added: ‘On the ground, on the contrary, I meet people who admire what she does, her work, her involvement.
‘If people have nothing else to do but criticise, let them do it, it will only bring us closer together.’
And Mr Lecomte is not bothered by the age gap, and claims nobody else actually cares.
‘People are not bothered about us and the age gap, they treat us normally but we laugh a lot together and we help each other, and enjoy time together,’ he told Our News Outlet.
