'Like you, I'm waiting': Brigitte Macron in dark over husband's re-election plans

Brigitte Macron, wife of French President Emmanuel Macron, attends the launching of "Pieces Jaunes 2022" (Yellow Pieces 2022), a fundraising operation for the benefit of the Fondation des hopitaux which works to improve daily life of children at hospital, at the La Poste du Louvre in Paris, France, January 12, 2022. REUTERS/Sarah Meyssonnier

PARIS (Reuters) - Brigitte Macron may be the wife of France's president but even she is waiting to learn if he will run for re-election in April, France's first lady said on Wednesday.

"I've heard he wants to. But like you, I'm waiting for his decision," Brigitte Macron told TV channel TF1.

France's president since 2017, Emmanuel Macron is doing little to disguise his desire to stand again. But like many incumbents before him, he is holding back on formally launching his challenge to shorten the campaign and minimise risks.

Macron, who was France's youngest leader since Napoleon when he was elected, is the frontrunner to win the two-round election in polls. However, conservative challenger Valerie Pecresse poses a danger to the 44-year-old if she can beat the far-right into the run-off vote.

The first couple's relationship has captured the public's imagination in France and abroad. Their romance blossomed at a Jesuit college in the provinces where he was a teenage schoolboy and she was a drama teacher 24 years his senior. They married in 2007 after Brigitte divorced her then-husband

"Everyday has its surprises," Brigitte Macron said when asked about their relationship.

Lawyers for Brigitte Macron last month said she was launching legal proceedings over the spread of baseless claims https://www.reuters.com/article/france-macron-wife-idUKL8N2T73S6 that she is a transgender woman who was born a man.

"Clearly those are lies," she told the television network.

(Reporting by Blanding Henault; writing by Richard Lough, editing by Alexandra Hudson)