Top Macron minister poses for PLAYBOY: Ex erotica author Marlène Schiappa, 40, hits out at ‘hypocrites’ slamming her 12-page magazine spread on women’s and gay rights – as protest chaos grips France

• Marlène Schiappa has given a 12-page interview to the French edition of Playboy
• Comes amid widespread strikes and riots over the unpopular pension reforms 
• Schiappa defended her decision despite irritating government colleagues 

One of Emmanuel Macron’s top government ministers has vehemently defended her appearance on the front cover of Playboy amid France battling strikes and riots in the wake of the president’s controversial pension reforms.

Marlène Schiappa, a 40-year-old former erotica author, will appear fully clothed on the cover of the French edition of the magazine after giving a 12-page interview to the notorious magazine on women’s and gay rights.

The minister for the social economy and French associations has hit out at ‘hypocrites’ slamming her after she irritated government colleagues – including her boss Prime Minister Elizabeth Borne – with her ill-timed Playboy appearance.

France has been engulfed by increasingly violent riots after President Macron announced he would raise the retirement age from 62 to 64 without a parliamentary vote.

Millions have taken to the streets of Paris and other cities in response to the controversial move, with some gangs involved in running battles with the police. 

Marlène Schiappa has vehemently defended her appearance on the front cover of Playboy (pictured)

Her 12-page interview with the notorious magazine comes amid the country battling widespread riots. Pictured: Protesters set fire to bins on March 28

Gerald Darmanin, France’s Interior Minister, said that ‘the aim is to bring fire and blood to France’.  Shocking footage has captured riot police charging protesters, while garbage bins have been set alight and shop windows have been smashed up.

With parliament in revolt, President Macron now faces the fallout from Schiappa becoming the first female politician to appear in the Playboy magazine. 

The self-proclaimed ‘sapiosexual’ reportedly agreed to give the interview to discuss women’s rights, feminism, violence against women as well as current politics. 

After facing backlash, Schiappa defended her decision on social media, tweeting: ‘Defending the right of women to do what they want with their bodies: everywhere and all the time

‘In France, women are free. Whether it annoys the retrogrades and hypocrites or not.’ 

French Prime Minister Borne, only the second woman to occupy the position, called Schiappa to tell her that it ‘was not at all appropriate, especially in the current period,’ an aide told AFP.

Greens MP and fellow women’s rights activist Sandrine Rousseau, an outspoken critic of the centrist government, said: ‘where is the respect for the French people?

‘People who are going to have to work for two years more, who are demonstrating, who are losing days of salary, who aren’t managing to eat because of inflation?’ she told the BFM channel on Saturday.

Schiappa slammed ‘hypocrites’ who criticised her appearance on the front cover of the French edition of Playboy

French Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne (pictured) called Schiappa to tell her that it ‘was not at all appropriate, especially in the current period’

‘Women’s bodies should be able to be exposed anywhere, I don’t have a problem with that, but there’s a social context.’

Playboy also joined Schiappa in defending the interview, with editor Jean-Christophe Florentin insisting the French minister was the ‘most ‘Playboy compatible’ of government ministers ‘because she is attached to the rights of women and she has understood that it’s not a magazine for old machos but could be an instrument for the feminist cause.’

‘Playboy is not a soft porn magazine but a 300-page quarterly ‘mook’ (a mix of a book and a magazine) that is intellectual and on trend,’ Florentin added, while admitting there were ‘still a few undressed women but they’re not the majority of the pages.’

Schiappa, a regular on French TV talk shows, brought in legislation outlawing catcalling and street harassment while serving as equalities minister in 2018.

Along with several books on feminism, the mother-of-two has published a dozen erotica books under the pen name Marie Minelli. 

Her books include, Dare to Have a Female Orgasm, Indecent Marriage and Good Girls Don’t Swallow. 

President Macron (pictured with Schiappa) also drew criticism for being interviewed about political power and pensions in a children’s magazine last week

She also penned a 2010 book that offered sex tips for the overweight which some critics saw as propagating stereotypes.

Macron, who rarely gives interviews to the French press, has also drawn criticism for the the timing of a long interview on political power and pensions which was published in children’s magazine ‘Pif, le mag’ last week. 

Jean-Luc Mélenchon, the Leftist leader, joked on Twitter: ‘In a country where the president speaks in Pif and his minister Schiappa in Playboy the problem would be the opposition. France is going off the rails.’ 

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