Edited by hanakikan at 9-2-2017 02:23 PM
Presidentialcandiate Emmanuel Macron shocked supporters on Monday night when he publiclydismissed longstanding and widespread rumours he was having an affair with thepresident of France Radio Mathieu Gallet.
The rumours had been swirling around Macron for along time but the presidential candidate shocked his supporters by meeting themhead on.
On Monday night he made a surprise appearance at ameeting of supporters in Paris, during which he gave an hour long speech.
And for the first time Macron spoke of the rumoursthat have long since been spread on social media and talked about amongjournalists that he and France Radio chief Mathieu Gallet have been having anaffair.
"I am who I am, I have never had anything tohide," he said.
"I hear people saying that I have a secretlife or something. It's not nice for Brigitte (his wife) and because I shareall my days and nights with her, she asks me how do I manage it," Macronsaid.
And with a nod to the fake jobs scandal surroundinghis rival candidate François Fillon and his wife, Macron joked that he hadnever been paid for his secret life.
He continued: "If over dinners in thecity, if on forwarded emails, you're told that I have a double life withMathieu Gallet or anyone else - then it's my hologram that suddenlyescaped, but it can't be me!" he said, joking about rival candidate Jean-Luc Melenchon's decision to use a hologram ata rally in Paris at the weekend.
Macron's decision to tackle the rumours head on wasno doubt strategic, knowing that as the battle for the Elysée becomes more andmore bitter he would probably have had to face the gossip at some point.
The MP was quotes as saying "Concerning hisprivate life, it is becoming known." He added: "He has a richgay lobby, which supports him."
The interview has raised fears that Moscow will tryto intervene in the French election campaign to ensure one of the two pro-Putinrunners Fillon and Marine Le Pen are elected.
Unlike them, Macron is pro-Europe and some pollssuggest he is now favourite to win the election.
Macron has steadily risen in recent polls thanks tothe fake jobs scandal around François Fillon. He is now predicted to make thesecond round runoff against Marine Le Pen, but we are a long way from thefinish line and somehow Fillon has survived to stay in the race.
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