l'amour

Hey, Did You Know That French Presidential Candidate Emmanuel Macron Is Married to His High-School Teacher?

Brigitte Trogneux and Emmanuel Macron. Photo: AFP/AFP/Getty Images

On Sunday, the first round of voting in the French presidential race narrowed the candidates down to infamous far-right leader Marine Le Pen, and the front-runner, centrist independent Emmanuel Macron. As Macron moves closer to the presidency, one petit fun fact about him is making the news cycle: He’s married to a woman 25 years his senior, who also happened to be his teacher back in high school.

In a story that would likely sink a candidate’s chances in a more uptight country (uh, here), the 39-year-old Macron first met his 64-year-old wife, Brigitte Trogneux, when he was 15. More specifically, she was a drama teacher and he was playing the lead role in the school’s adaptation of the Milan Kundera play, Jacques and His Master. If you were wondering how this story could possibly get more French, Trogneux is reportedly from a family of “respected chocolatiers in the northern French town of Amiens.”

Trogneux was married at the time, and though there are rumors that they had an affair, it’s unclear when their romance actually began. They wed in 2007 and Macron now has several step-grandchildren.

In a recently published book, Macron is reportedly quoted as saying, “Nobody would call it unusual if the age difference was reversed” — and, well, he does have a point.

Emmanuel Macron Married His High-School Teacher