'More Than What Meets The Eye': Macron Turns Up In Sunglasses At World Economic Forum, Netizens Wonder Why

Davos: French President Emmanuel Macron appeared with sunglasses at the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos on Tuesday (January 20), drawing significant attention and speculation among netizens. This comes after his recent public appearances with evident redness in one eye, which had also gone viral.

Macron was spotted at a ceremony at the Istres military base in southern France last week, where he began his speech with an apology for what he called 'the unsightly appearance' of his eye. Visuals of the French President's puffy, red-eye quickly went viral on social media, leaving internet users divided to interpret the reason behind the sunglasses.

Reports of a clarification from the Elysee Palace followed soon after, in which a ruptured blood vessel in his eye was cited as the reason behind the red-eyed appearance. Macron was noted brushing it off as a harmless, temporary condition.

Netizens' guesswork continues  

In response to a post on the social media platform X, which pointed out his 'top Gun-style sunglasses' at Davos today, a user commented, "Context: he hasn't appeared without sunglasses in public since his speech to the Army on 15 January, where he showed a red eye."

Previously, there has been speculation regarding what actually caused the red-eye. While some X users attributed it to some underlying, unknown reason which was being kept hidden, some users made references to his wife, Brigitte Macron.

"His man wife is smacking him around again," another said. 

"He is a victim of domestic violence! His wife belongs to jail," a comment read. Another comment said, "Late stages of a crippling cocaine addiction?"

Rumours of the domestic violence factor surfacing from his experience, date back to another viral clip from May 2025, in which his wife was seen pushing his face aside. 

During his address at the 56th Annual Summit of the World Economic Forum in Davos earlier today, Macron highlighted rising global instability and imbalances across security, defence, and economic domains. He also warned of a global shift "towards autocracy rather than democracy," citing rising violence and the number of wars compared to 2024, noting that some of them "were solved", a reference to Trump's repeated claims of ending eight wars.

Also read: 'Aims To Weaken...Europe': Macron Raises Concern Over 'Autocracy Rather Than Democracy' Amid Trump's Fresh Tariff Threats