Emmanuel Macron’s stepdaughter has provided a fresh insight into the impact the first stages of the relationship between her mother and the French President had on her.
Tiphaine Auzière, the youngest of Brigitte Macron’s three children, opened up about how the suffering she felt following her parents’ separation when she was 10 was enhanced by the scandalous nature of her mother’s love story with Mr Macron, who is more than two decades her junior.
Mrs Macron fell in love with her now husband when he was a 15-year-old student attending the Catholic Providence school in Amiens, where she was a drama teacher.
Ms Auzière, now 40, spoke about how this event impacted her childhood during a series of interviews she has released to promote her first novel, unrelated to the Macrons’ relationship.
She told the Paris Match news outlet: “A separation is painful, but when there is something particular, it’s even more painful. I learned a lot about human nature.
“I know that, at times like these, you have to focus on what’s essential and move forward regardless of criticism.”
Despite the difficulties created during her childhood by the relationship of the now Mr and Mrs Macron, Ms Auzière, a lawyer, is said to feel deep admiration for the 46-year-old president of France.
Indeed, the 40-year-old said she loves both her late father and the “humane, courageous and generous” French leader.
She told French daily Le Figaro: “For any child, a divorce is very painful but a recombined family can be an opportunity.
“There can be independent ties of blood. I have been lucky to have had an extraordinary father and an extraordinary stepfather.”
On the other hand, she can’t forget how maliciously some people in her home town, Amiens, acted towards Mrs Macron after the relationship between the former teacher and student came to light.
Ms Auzière told French daily Le Figaro: “The attacks, the backbiting, the judgments. It was not yet the era of social networks, but we were in a small provincial town. Everything is known.
“I heard a heap of criticism and remarks on the age difference between my mother and Emmanuel.
“That forged my character. I learned how to live with it and get over it because love was there.”
Three decades after her mother and Mr Macron met, Ms Auzière penned a book – titled Assizes – set in the justice system of a woman’s suffering at the hands of abusive men.
The novel was inspired by her experiences gathered when, as a young lawyer working in Boulogne-sur-Mer, she defended women victims of abuse who were manipulated by men.
