Emmanuel Macron talks about his grandmother Manette and her “selfless love”

“You took me to places where I hadn’t been in other interviews with other journalists.” Emmanuel Macron was the guest of the “Rencontres du Papotin” – broadcast on Saturday on France 2 – answering questions from journalists with autism spectrum disorders. His personal and family life was one of the main topics.

Sébastien had a very precise and direct question: “Do you miss Manette?”. Manette is the nickname he gave to Germaine Noguès, his maternal grandmother. The teacher, who died in 2013, was a confidante, a compass for the head of state who often evokes his memory, even during his meetings when he was running for the Elysée. In 2021, during a trip to the Somme, he visited the elementary school of Poix-de-Picardie, an establishment that Manette directed for 23 years.

“She never expected anything in return”

“How do you know her”, responds first Emmanuel Macron , somewhat surprised. “It’s your grandmother”, says his interlocutor before talking about his great-grandfather, who died in 2021, whom he knew as a child and a teenager. “Do you miss Manette?”, relaunches the atypical journalist from Papotin. “Yes because she took care of me a lot. When I was little, then a teenager, like your great-grandfather. It was selfless love. She gave me her love and her time and I don’t think she ever expected anything in return. As soon as you do something there is a weird thing that happens, you know that someone is worried about you.

Watch the video exchange:

“Yes, I miss her because she took care of me a lot. »

To pay #LesRencontresDuPapotin, @EmmanuelMacron opens up about his grandmother.

▶ To see in full on https://t.co/PaFR6Ej5Lf : https://t.co/m5PSttquVA pic.twitter.com/13eYahxCDF

– France 2 (@France2tv) January 7, 2023

Jérôme, another journalist from Papotin, says he chose to live with his mother, to whom he is very attached. “I am lucky to still have my two parents, explains Emmanuel Macron. I don’t talk about them often, but that doesn’t mean I don’t care about them immensely. My mother is in Paris, my father in Amiens. Their names are Françoise and Jean-Michel”.

Another interlocutor questions him about his greatest fear as President of the Republic, then as a man. To the latter, he replies: the disappearance of his relatives. “Losing a loved one. Losing my loved ones, the people who are dear to me”.

Launched in September 2022, proposed by Olivier Nakache and Eric Toledano, “Les Rencontres du Papotin”, a magazine of atypical interviews, takes up the DNA of Papotin, a newspaper created in 1990, whose editorial staff is made up of journalists, non-professionals, affected of autism spectrum disorders. An interview without filter with the rule: “At Papotin we can say everything”.