Brigitte Macron Post State Visit: Melania Trump Is ‘Kind, Charming, Intelligent’

First lady Brigitte Macron spoke with the French press after she and President Emmanuel Macron paid a state visit to the White House. She said her counterpart, Melania Trump, is not like the public persona often portrayed in the press.

The Guardian reported:

Speaking to Le Monde at the end of the French presidential couple’s three-day state visit to Washington, Macron said the 48-year-old former model from Slovenia was “actually really fun. We have the same sense of humor. We laugh a lot together.”

But Melania “cannot do anything”, the French first lady said. “She can’t even open a window at the White House. She can’t go outside. She’s much more constrained than I am. I go out every day in Paris.”

Brigitte, a former French and drama teacher who recently celebrated her 65th birthday and is 25 years older than Emmanuel, her former student, insisted that contrary to popular opinion, Melania, who is 24 years younger than her husband, was “kind, charming, intelligent and very open.”

Macro said she understands why Trump seems almost grim in public given the intense attention she receives.

“Everything is interpreted, over-interpreted,” Macron said. “She’s someone who has a strong personality, but works hard to hide it.”

“She laughs very easily, at everything, but shows it less than I do,” Macron said.

But Macron told the Le Monde that she also is “constantly holding myself back.”

“That’s the hardest part: there’s never really any time off, never a moment when you can be completely calm,” Macron said.

Macron told Le Monde that she tries to lead “a normal life,” including spending time with her children from her first husband, André-Louis Auzière, and their grandchildren.

Trump posted a video on Twitter saying it was an “honor” to host the Macrons for “our first state dinner.”