THIS is the jaw-dropping moment French President Emmanuel Macron is slapped by his wife Brigitte as the pair were “bickering”.

Incredible footage shows the presidential plane door opening to the sight of Brigitte’s hands on Macron’s face upon their arrival in Vietnam for the start of a Southeast Asia tour.

The footage, captured on Sunday evening at Hanoi airport, shows the plane’s doors opening to reveal Macron standing inside the aircraft, facing his wife with a serious expression.

Within seconds, Brigitte’s arms pop into view, with both of them raised to Macron’s face in what appears to be a small blow and shove.

Looking surprised, the French leader quickly notices the open doors and swiftly turns to wave at the crowd of cameras situated at the bottom of the plane steps.

The couple then emerge together from the aircraft and walk down the staircase, with Macron extending his arm to his wife.

But she takes hold of the handrail of the walkway for support instead, potentially due to an explosive argument they could have had inside.

The clip of the fighting couple went viral overnight, with it initially denied by Palais de l’Élysée as being fake.

But sources in the French media later confirmed that the clip is in fact real.

And live feed by the Associated Press also clearly shows the shocking moment.

According to an anonymous source close to the President, the couple were “bickering”.

They told BFMTV: “It was a moment when the president and his wife were unwinding one last time before the start of the trip by having a little fun.”

The same source added that “it was a moment of complicity” that “wasn’t enough to give the conspiracy theorists more to chew” – alluding to the negative media spread by Russia.

The politician was just 15 when he started a relationship with the then mother-of-three, his French literature teacher.

Macron was in Hanoi to begin a week-long tour of Southeast Asia, where he will also visit Indonesia and Singapore.

The French leader has repeatedly been targeted by conspiracy theories and deepfakes.

He previously had to deny “false and fabricated” rumours his wife was born a man, dubbing the transgender claims as being typified misogynistic online attacks on women.

And recently he blasted a fake Russian claim that he had a bag of cocaine on the table when he was pictured on his way to Kyiv with Keir Starmer and Germany’s Friedrich Merz.

Pro-Russian social media accounts initiated the cocaine conspiracy theory – which spread rapidly online.

One account posted on X: “Macron, Starmer and Merz caught on video on their return from Kiev. A bag of white powder on the table.

“Macron quickly pockets it, Merz hides the spoon. No explanation given.”

Even Russia‘s foreign ministry even poured petrol on the flames, when its spokesperson Maria Zakharova posted on Telegram that “a Frenchman, an Englishman and a German” had been spotted with cocaine paraphernalia on a train.

She wrote: “The fate of Europe is being decided by utterly (drug) dependent individuals.

“It’s as if the Almighty Himself is lifting the veil on this putrid spectacle.”

Macron & Brigette’s romance

EMMANUEL Macron, the youngest president in France’s history, met his future wife when he was just 15 years old.

Macron was Brigitte’s drama student in school – where she would read his writing out to the class.

When Macron hit the limelight, footage of him kissing his future wife on the cheek – when he was just a teen and she was his married teacher – emerged.

Macron, now 46, shared a classroom at a Catholic school with Brigitte’s daughter Laurence – who is the same age as him.

His parents were stunned when they learned that their son was romantically involved with his teacher as they believed he was actually in love with Laurence, reports Reuters.

Writer Anne Fulda, who penned the book Emmanuel Macron: A Perfect Young Man, spoke to the politician’s parents about the unconventional romance, which happened while Brigitte was still married to the father of her three children.

His parents were shocked by the explosive revelation and removed their teen son from the school in Amiens, in northern France, and sent him to finish his education in Paris.

Macron married his wife in 2007 after Brigitte’s previous marriage ended in divorce.

The former economics minister is step-father to his wife’s three adult children, including son Sebastien who is two years older than Macron.

Macron does not have any biological children with his wife, although he is also the step-grandfather of Brigitte’s seven grandchildren.