The publication on Wednesday of a book about France's President Emmanuel Macron and his wife Brigitte has reignited rumours of a relationship between the French leader and Iranian actress Golshifteh Farahani.
According to Paris Match journalist Florian Tardif, author of the book "Un couple (presque) parfait", an apparent slap in the face Macron received by the First Lady on their arrival in Vietnam last May, was linked to the alleged relationship.
Speaking to the broadcaster RTL, the journalist claims that Macron and Golshifteh Farahani had "a platonic relationship".
"That's what I've been told over and over again by their entourage", he said.
According to Tardif, the Head of State allegedly sent the message "I find you very pretty" to the actress.
This message exchange is said to have led to "tensions within the couple," culminating in the apparent slap just before the pair left the presidential plane in Hanoi.
People close to Brigitte Macron formally denied this version to the journal Le Parisien.
"Brigitte Macron categorically denied this story directly to the author on 5 March, specifying that she never looked into her husband's mobile phone".
'You have to let rumours pass,' Golshifteh Farahani says
The Iranian actress has spoken out several times in the French media on the subject since the first rumour of an affair with Emmanuel Macron appeared on Iranian accounts on the X social media platform.
"It comes in waves, it appears, disappears...I watch, I observe: what can I do? It doesn't even get on my nerves. What's the point? "The question is, why are people interested in this kind of story? I think there's a lack of love in some people and they need to create romances like this to fill it," Farahani said.
She also explained that she had spent many months in Vancouver and then in the Amazon, far from Paris and any supposed proximity to Macron.
Golshifteh Farahani has been a refugee in France since 2008, after being harassed in Iran for her role in the film "Body of Lies."
For several years, the actress has been committed to the visibility and freedom of Iranian women.
