French police are investigating a photographer for invading privacy because of a photo of President Emmanuel Macron topless while vacationing in the Mediterranean, prosecutors confirmed to AFP.
“An investigation is under way,” the Paris prosecutor’s office said, confirming a report by Europe 1 radio station.
These shots are one of several photos of the paparazzi published by a well-known magazine in August 2020, which reportedly outraged the 43-year-old president. In some of them, Macron, who was vacationing on the French Riviera, is depicted next to his wife Brigitte and other family members on a yacht partially naked. In other photos, he was skiing, naked and in a life jacket. One of the photos from water skiing was even included in the exhibition of images of the rest of the French presidents, organized by the Paris Art Gallery.
Macron’s office declined to comment, but Europe 1 reported that he and Brigitte had filed a criminal complaint about the invasion of privacy.
The photographer who took the footage, Thibaut Dalifar, told AFP that he was called to a police station near his home in southern France on Tuesday. Europe 1 also reported that the gallery owner had been questioned.
Dalifar said he was “surprised” by Macron’s reaction, saying the photo of the water skis showed “a young, dynamic president who looks almost like Kennedy” and is therefore a comforting picture. He noted that past French leaders often posed for photos while vacationing at Fort Breganson, starting with Georges Pompidou and Valerie Giscard d’Estaing in the 1970s.
But as subsequent presidents, including Macron, continued the tradition, paparazzi photographers made bolder attempts to capture them in private moments. Both Nicolas Sarkozy, Francois Hollande and their partners were also photographed topless without their knowledge.