Macron’s ‘Teacher-Wife’, Boris’ 24 yrs Younger Spouse: As Mann Weds, Some Political Couples ‘Ages Apart’
Punjab’s chief minister Bhagwant Mann on Thursday tied the knot for the second time, with 1993-born doctor Gurpreet Kaur. The 48-year-old CM completed the marriage rituals surrounded by top leaders of the Aam Aadmi Party, who gave Mann and his new life partner their blessings for their journey ahead.
The two are almost 20 years apart in age. News18 takes a look at some other big political duos with major age differences:
Boris Johnson, Carrie Symonds
UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson last year married his fiance Carrie Symonds, who was 32 at the time, while Johnson was 57. The 24-year age difference between the two raised eyebrows in British tabloids at the time.
HD Kumaraswamy, Radhika Kutty
Sandalwood actress and producer Radhika Kutty married Karnataka political leader HD Kumaraswamy. The couple’s age difference is 27 years. Even before elections, Kumaraswamy faced harsh criticism for marrying Radhika while ‘still in a relationship with his first wife, Anitha’.
Digvijaya Singh, Amrita Rai
Digvijaya Singh, a senior Congress leader, married TV journalist Amrita Rai in Tamil Nadu. The age gap between the two is 25 years.
Rai took to Facebook and confirmed the wedding by saying, “Those who themselves have no concept or belief in love and dignity tried to shame me on social media. But all during this period, I kept a dignified silence and went on with my work, believing in myself and my love for DIgvijaya.”
Emmanuel Macron, Brigitte Trogneux
French President Emmanuel Macron is married to Brigitte Trogneux, who is 25 years his senior. Notably, when Macron married Trogneux in 2007, she already had three children from her previous marriage to Andre Louis Auziere. In June 1974, Trogneux married Andre. Emmanuel Macron is the stepfather of Trogneux and Andre’s three adult children.
Emmanuel Macron, France’s youngest President, was only 15 years old when he met his future wife in his school, where Trogneux was a drama teacher who was still married. Laurence, Brigitte’s daughter, was also a classmate of Macron’s. In fact, Laurence’s parents believed that the French President was in love with her. According to Reuters, Macron’s parents were shocked to learn of their son’s romantic relationship with his teacher, Brigitte Trogneux.
Donald Trump, Melania
Former US President Donald Trump and former First Lady Melania Trump have an age difference of 24 years. They went public nearly a year after meeting at a fashion week party in a Times Square nightclub in September 1998. They married in 2005 at a star-studded event and remained prominent figures in New York’s social scene until Trump was elected president in 2016. He served one term in office until Biden’s election in 2020, when he and Melania retired to their Florida estate, Mar-a-Lago.
Michel Temer, Marcela
Former Brazilian president Michel Temer, is 42 years older than his wife, Marcela Temer. Temer served as president of Brazil from 2016 to 2019 after his predecessor, Dilma Rousseff, was impeached. Marcela is a former beauty queen who met Temer when she was 19 years old and he was 60 years old. They married in 2003.
M. Karunanidhi- Rajathi Ammal
Rajathi Ammal was the third wife of DMK supremo Muthuvel Karunanidhi, who died on August 7, 2019, at the age of 94. During an election campaign in the 1960s, he fell in love with Rajathi Ammal and married her in accordance with a DMK tradition known as the ‘Swayam Maryada Kalyamam,’ which means ‘Marriage of Self-Respect.’ The couple’s age difference was 21 years.
