Brigitte Macron apologizes for insulting feminist activists

French first lady Brigitte Macron has apologized after lashing out at a group of feminists in unwittingly recorded backstage remarks to actor and comedian Ary Abittan.

"I am sorry if I hurt the female victims; I am thinking of them and them alone," Macron told the online magazine Brut.

A little over a week ago, she laid into a group of feminist activists who had interrupted a performance by Abittan the previous day and called him a rapist.

She said she thought she was in a private, unobserved setting during a backstage conversation with a small circle of people and had not realized that someone was filming her brief exchange with the actor.

"I needed to reassure him. I reassured him maladroitly, for sure, but at that moment I had no other words at my disposal," she told the reporter.

Brigitte Macron also stressed that being the president's wife was not a full-time occupation. "I am the wife of the president of the republic, but first and foremost I am myself. And when I am out in private, I can let myself go in a way that is not appropriate."

Macron had called the feminists "sales connes," a slur that roughly translates as "dirty bitches."

Abittan, known internationally for his role in "Serial (Bad) Weddings," was accused of rape in 2021 by a then 23-year-old woman he had been seeing for a few weeks. The investigation was dropped in April 2024.

After a prolonged disruption to his career, Abittan eventually returned to the stage with a show that had previously drawn the attention of feminist activists.