The French presidential election sank to a new low yesterday, after Emmanuel Macron, the leading candidate who is married to his former high school teacher, was forced to deny a gay extramarital affair.

Making fun of rumours that he is gay, Macron had to insist that he was neither cheating on his wife nor having a gay affair with a media boss.

The 39-year-old independent is married to his high school teacher Brigitte Trogneux who is 24 years older than him — an unconventional relationship often featured in the country’s celebrity and lifestyle magazines.

French right-wing MP Nicolas Dhuicq said in an interview with Russian news agency Sputnik last Saturday (4 February) that Macron is being supported by the ‘gay lobby’.

‘Macron is a guy who is called a chouchou, or a darling, of the French media, which is owned by only a few people, as we all know,’ he said.
‘Besides, one of the guys who backs him is famous businessman Pierre Bergé.’

Bergé is the business partner and long-time romantic partner of iconic fashion designer Yves Saint Laurent.

‘There is very wealthy gay lobby behind him,’ Dhuicq said.

Speaking at a meeting in Paris, Macron drew laughters by referring to speculation that he was in a relationship with the head of state-run Radio France.

“If over dinners in the city, if on forwarded emails, you’re told that I have a double life with Mathieu Gallet or anyone else, it’s my hologram that suddenly escaped, but it can’t be me!” he said.