French president Emmanuel Macron and his wife are suing conservative American influencer Candace Owens over her claims that French first lady Brigitte Macron, was born male.
France’s first couple have accused Owens, 36, of waging a “relentless and unjustified smear campaign.” In the 218-page lawsuit, which was filed in the US State of Delaware, the couple accuse Ms Owens of publishing what they have described as “outlandish, defamatory and far-fetched fiction,” including the claim that Ms Macron was born a male named Jean-Michel Trogneux.
In 2024, Owens said that she would “stake [her] entire professional reputation on the fact that Brigitte Macron is in fact a man.”
Owens produced the eight-part podcast series “Becoming Brigitte” – with the first episode alone racking up over 4 million views on YouTube alone.
The 24-year age gap between Ms Macron and her husband has fuelled controversy on the internet, specifically due to the fact that Mr Macron was a 15 year-old student when he met his future wife, who was 39 at the time and married, at a drama workshop. Gender conspiracy theories have gone viral online in recent years, with social media posts claiming that Ms Macron was born male under the name Jean-Michel Trogneux; while courts have labelled some of such claims libelous, in later appeals they have been allowed due to “good faith” sources. Ms Macron’s daughter Tiphanie has slammed the rumours as false, defending her mother.
The lawsuit outlines: “These outlandish, defamatory, and far-fetched fictions included that Mrs Macron was born a man, stole another person’s identity, and transitioned to become Brigitte; Mrs Macron and President Macron are blood relatives committing incest; President Macron was chosen to be the President of France as part of the CIA-operated MKUltra program or a similar mind-control program; and Mrs Macron and President Macron are committing forgery, fraud, and abuses of power to conceal these secrets.”
In a statement, the Macrons added:
“Because Ms Owens systematically reaffirmed these falsehoods in response to each of our attorneys’ repeated requests for a retraction, we ultimately concluded that referring the matter to a court of law was the only remaining avenue.
“Ms Owens’ campaign of defamation was plainly designed to harass and cause pain to us and our families and to garner attention and notoriety. We gave her every opportunity to back away from these claims, but she refused. It is our earnest hope that this lawsuit will set the record straight and end this campaign of defamation once and for all.”
Since then, she has doubled down on these claims and added more, including in an eight-part podcast series called Becoming Brigitte, the lawsuit alleges.
Reacting to the lawsuit, Owens, who has over four million subscribers on YouTube, reiterated the claim that Brigitte Macron is a man.
“You were born a man and you will die a man – that’s the point I’m making,” she said. “I think you’re sick. I think you’re disgusting. And I am fully prepared to take on this battle on behalf of the entire world. I will see you in court,” Owens said in an episode of her podcast released last night.
“Figure it out real quick,” Owens added. “How about just giving us some pictures of you raising your children – that would be fine.”
“We’ll get to the bottom of it,” Owens said. “That is what discovery is for.”
Owens also demanded that Ms Macron “give us a [blood] sample,” adding: “I’ll send my doctors. We’ll take your blood.”