Just how unusual is Emmanuel Macron’s 24-year age gap with his wife anyway?

Washington Post ^ | 05/11/2017 | By Adam Taylor

[SeekAndFind]

Emmanuel Macron is 24 years younger than his wife, and the incoming French president is exasperated that people keep talking about it.

Discussing the assumptions and rumors about his relationship his wife, Brigitte, Macron told Le Parisien newspaper this week that “if I had been 20 years older than my wife, nobody would have thought for a single second that I couldn’t be.”

It's a sentiment many French women seem to relate to. Speaking to The Washington Post's Mary Jordan ahead of the election, some suggested that the Macrons' marriage was social “revenge” for years of powerful men seeking younger wives. But it raises the question: Just how unusual is Macron's May-December romance in French politics anyway?

When he takes office, Macron will be the only leader under France's Fifth Republic to be younger than his partner; no surprise there. However, the Macrons also will have the largest age gap of any French first couple under the Fifth Republic. Charles de Gaulle and François Hollande were both close to a decade older than their partners when they entered office, but those relationships are less than half the age gap the Macrons have.

The complicated love lives of some French leaders do make this comparison a little more tricky, however. To the delight of French tabloids, both Hollande and his predecessor, Nicolas Sarkozy, split from their respective partners during their time in the Élysée Palace. Hollande quickly entered a relationship with actress Julia Gayet, 18 years his junior, while Sarkozy married former model Carla Bruni, 13 years younger.

Another factor is the fact that many French presidents have conducted well-known extramarital affairs. François Mitterrand's lengthy but covert relationship with art historian Anne Pingeot is now widely acknowledged and pretty much accepted —

[MortMan]

Discussing the assumptions and rumors about his relationship his wife, Brigitte, Macron told Le Parisien newspaper this week that "if I had been 20 years older than my wife, nobody would have thought for a single second that I couldn't be."

If he was 20 years older than his wife and she was a former student of his, there would still be questions.

[nd76]

In France, a woman like this would be called “La Puma” (the Cougar).

[FreedomStar3028]

This isn’t America. It’s France, and they have different laws, ideas, etc. The age of consent is 15 in France. So take it up with French law makers.

For most of America’s history the age of consent wasn’t 18. Fyi. It was 14.

How am I warped in my thinking? If anyone is, it’s the French.