French minister Marlene Schiappa to appear on Playboy front cover

The French government has been embroiled in a scandal after it emerged that one of Emmanuel Macron’s top ministers is set to appear on the front cover of Playboy.

Marlene Schiappa, 40, who is minister for social economy and associations, will feature fully clothed alongside a 12-page interview in the French edition of the magazine.

Ms Schiappa, a self-professed “sapiosexual”, was seen as “the most Playboy compatible” of government ministers, Playboy France editor Jeane-Christophe Florentin said.

An activist turned politician, Ms Schiappa reportedly agreed to give the interview in order to expound on everything from feminism, violence against women and women’s rights, to politics, global warming and literature.

While Ms Schiappa appears fully clothed on the cover and in the 12-page spread, she poses seductively, wrapped around the French flag, reports Le Parisien, which broke the story.

Leaked photos show the government minister wearing a one-shoulder dress in one image, and a voluminous bowtied dress in another, under the headline “A liberated minister”.

Elisabeth Borne, the French prime minister, reportedly criticised Ms Schiappa in a phone call on Saturday, telling her “it was inappropriate” given the current context of pension reform protests that have rocked the country over the past three months.

Ms Schiappa did not clear the interview with Ms Borne in advance. “I thought it was April Fool’s Day," Ms Schiappa’s Renaissance party colleague Ludovic Mendes of Moselle said in an interview with BFMTV.

“I can understand the feminist fight, but I don’t see why we would do it in Playboy. There are other ways to do it.”

Ms Schiappa defended her Playboy cover, calling her critics hypocrites.

“Defending the right of women to dispose of their bodies is everywhere and all the time. In France, women are free,” she said. “With all due respect to the backsliders and the hypocrites.”

Ms Schiappa has made headlines several times since being plucked from near obscurity by Mr Macron in 2017 and has held several high-profile titles including secretary of state for gender and equality and minister delegate in charge of citizenship.

She made headlines while in office in 2021 for describing herself as a “sapiosexual”, a person who finds intelligence sexually attractive. The heroine in one of her books calls ex-prime minister Alain Juppé, 77, the sexiest man in France.

Along with several books on feminism, Ms Schiappa has also published a dozen books on sex and erotica under the pen name Marie Minelli. Titles include everything from Dare to Have a Female Orgasm to Good Girls Don’t Swallow.