Months after President Emmanuel Macron's wife Brigitte admitted she was terrified of becoming a 'First Lady' to France, details about the 64-year-old's personal life have emerged revealing the horrific treatment the pair endured in the early years of their relationship.

In Maëlle Brun's newly-released unauthorised biography, titled Brigitte Macron: L'Affranchie (The Unfettered Woman), the author claims the couple was treated 'like they had the plague' by Brigitte's parents, had their door spat on and were sent letters denouncing their daughter as a result of their 24-year-old age gap.

Brigitte and Emmanuel began their relationship when the now-politician was a 15-year-old pupil at the private La Providence Lycée Catholic school. Meanwhile, Brigitte was a 39-year-old married teacher and mother to three children.

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Brun quotes a friend of Mrs Macron who explains that the early years of Brigitte's relationship with Emmanuel is a 'wound' in her life which she does not enjoy speaking about.

'But she has sometimes told me she lost all her friends,' the acquaintance added.

'Friends with whom she went on holiday changed overnight and no longer wanted to speak to her.'

The affair resulted in the end of Brigitte's marriage to banker Andrew-Louis Auziere, with Emmanuel being removed from the school and sent to Paris.

Speaking of her ex-husband's reaction to the affair, Brun describes: 'To be replaced by a schoolmate of his daughter, by an adolescent whom he had often received at his home? That's a difficult wound to heal.'

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Following their divorce in 2006, Emmanuel and Brigitte finally married in the seaside resort of Le Touquet.

Opening up about her relationship with Emmanuel, Brigitte told ELLE last year: 'There are times in your life where you need to make vital choices.

'And for me, that was it. So, what has been said over the 20 years, it's insignificant. Of course, we have breakfast together, me and my wrinkles, him with his youth, but it's like that.'

Of course, Ms Macron isn't the first high-profile female celebrity to face the completely ridiculous and unjustified wrath of the public as a result of her relationship with a younger man.

In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter last summer, director Sam Taylor-Johnson revealed she tries hard not to care about the opinions of others with respect to her 24 year age gap with husband, actor Aaron Taylor-Johnson.

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'If I gave a second thought to other people, I would be the unhappiest person, probably still in a miserable marriage,' she told THR.

'People like to talk about it. I'm like, 'Yeah, but it works better than my last marriage.' It's lasted longer than a lot of my friends' marriages.'

The comments followed the Golden Globe winner's interview with the New York Times magazine in which the 27-year-old took the opportunity to discuss the difficulty adjusting to fame – most notably, the scrutiny of his marriage.

Opening up about the early days of his career and questions regarding his marriage, he said: 'The attention was intrusive. But having to deal with that early in my career probably got me to a place where I can more quickly just go, 'Oh, f*ck it' instead of wanting to rip someone's head off for asking questions I don't like.'

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Katie O'Malley is the Site Director on ELLE UK. On a daily basis you’ll find Katie managing all digital workflow, editing site, video and newsletter content, liaising with commercial and sales teams on new partnerships and deals (eg Nike, Tiffany & Co., Cartier etc), implementing new digital strategies and compiling in-depth data traffic, SEO and ecomm reports. In addition to appearing on the radio and on TV, as well as interviewing everyone from Oprah Winfrey to Rishi Sunak PM, Katie enjoys writing about lifestyle, culture, wellness, fitness, fashion, and more.