Brigitte Macron Waited 10 Years to Marry French President, Who Was Around Her Childrens’ Age

• Brigitte Macron waited 10 years to marry the French President because her children were around his age.
• She spoke about her relationship with Emmanuel Macron to news magazine Paris Match, per The Times.
• The couple first started dating when he was 15 and she was his drama teacher.

Brigitte Macron says she waited a decade to marry French President Emmanuel Macron to avoid ruining the lives of her children, who were around his age.

The French first lady, 70, gave a rare glimpse into her relationship with her husband, 45, in an interview with news magazine Paris Match, per The Times.

“The only obstacle was my children,” she told Paris Match, as translated by The Times. “I took time so I would not wreck their lives. That lasted 10 years, the time to put them on the rails. You can imagine what they were hearing. But I didn’t want to miss out on my life.”

The couple first started dating when she was 40 and he was 15, per The Times. She had been his drama teacher at school in Amiens, a city in northern France, and even had a daughter who was his classmate.

Even as he was shipped off to Paris by his parents when their relationship came to light, he was still determined to be with her, per The Times.

“I told myself that he would fall in love with someone his age. It didn’t happen,” she said, as translated by The Times. “I do not know how my parents, who were the model of fidelity and good education, would have reacted to our marriage.”

She divorced her ex-husband André-Louis Auzière, a banker, in 2006, per The Times. Auzière died in 2019.

They share one son and two daughters who are now 48, 46, and 39 years old, respectively, per The Times.

She then married Emmanuel Macron in 2007, about 10 years before he became the French President in 2017.