Brigitte Macron to make appearance in new Emily in Paris series

Brigitte Macron, the wife of President Emmanuel Macron, is set to cameo in an episode of Emily in Paris, the smash hit Netflix show starring Lily Collins and Ashley Park.

Mrs Macron will appear - very briefly - playing her own role in an episode of the second half of season four.

Filming with Mrs Macron took place in Paris on April 2 on place de la Madeleine, reports Elle magazine, ahead of recent political drama including the dissolution of the Assemblée Nationale, snap legislative elections, and a newly-appointed PM.

Speaking of the Cameo in an interview, Ms Collins said: “She’s a big fan of the show. She invited us to have a meeting [at the Elysée] with her a few years ago, and she was so kind, and warm and welcoming, and enthusiastic about the show, and wanted to be in it!

“And I went, ‘what? Uh, OK!’. And Darren [Star, the series director] and I were like: ‘We’ve gotta make it happen!’, and having her on, that was so fun, she improv’d…we had a fantastic time together. It was a real honour.”

Mrs Macron has said she watched the first three seasons, and the first part of the fourth, and added that Mr Macron also watched an episode when the first season was released in 2020.

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“From the outset, I imagined Emily in Paris as a love letter to France,” said Mr Star to Elle. “I see it as recognition of the impact of the series on the attractiveness of France. [Mrs Macron took part] with talent.” 

‘Quelle horreur’?

Emily in Paris tells the story of Emily Cooper - played by Lily Collins (who is, incidentally, the daughter of musician Phil Collins) - an American marketing manager from Chicago who is hired to work in Paris to give ‘an American perspective’ to the agency. 

Yet, her very American attitude is not always welcome in the city, her colourful high-fashion clothes mark her out as ‘non-French’ (compared to her ‘chic’, more monochrome colleagues), and her love life also presents no end of drama.

The series has a 62% score on the review site Rotten Tomatoes, and a 6.9 out of 10 rating on the respected media site IMDB. Overall, it has mixed reviews, with one critic saying: “It doesn’t take itself too seriously, and neither should we,” but another writing: “If you can make it past the first episode, you're braver than me. Quelle horreur!” 

Some critics appreciate its ‘fluffy’ style and feel that it is a ‘guilty pleasure’; but others strongly disagree, saying that the show is clichéd, shallow, and ‘cringeworthy’, and shows a sanitised, glossy, ‘Americanised’ version of France that does not exist.

Read also: I’m Parisian: Here’s my view on the clichéd vision of Emily in Paris 

The second part of the fourth season will be released on Netflix on September 12.