Mind The Gap

In a world of blessers, ers, sugar mommies and ‘Ben 10s’, why are we as a society still so much more accepting of older men dating younger women – but not the reverse? erse?

- Rebecca Davis

When it comes to the sex lives of their politicians, it takes a lot to raise French eyebrows. In 1959, André Le Troquer, a former president of the National Assembly, participated in orgies with girls aged 15 to 17, and got off with a small fine. In 2015, former IMF director and French Socialist politician Dominique Strauss-Kahn was found to have been an enthusiastic participant in ‘classy’ sex parties, but only lost his job when the story hit international headlines and he became a public embarrassment.

French politician Emmanuel Macron has been running for president in France and while he may champion a number of controversial policies, that’s not the only reason why he’s once again been making headlines around the world. Emmanuel’s novelty factor is personal rather than political: he married his former teacher, some 24 years his senior.

Emmanuel was a 15-year-old at a private school in Amiens in northern France; Brigitte Trogneux was his 40-year-old teacher, married with three children. He fell in love when the two worked together on a school play. At 16, Emmanuel confessed his love and moved schools – either because his parents freaked out, or because Brigitte freaked out. He reportedly wore down his former teacher’s resistance with nightly phonecalls expressing his love. When Emmanuel turned 18, Trogneux divorced her husband and moved to Paris to be with him.

Today, the two are happily married: Macron now 39, and his wife 64. A man who is not yet 40 has seven step-grandchildren. In his book Révolution, Macron described their relationship as ‘a love often clandestine, often hidden, misunderstood by many’. It is hidden no more. Public fascination with the couple in France is such that a cover photo of the two is a surefire way to increase magazine sales.