French President Emmanuel Macron and his wife, Brigitte, took the unusual step this week of filing a defamation lawsuit in the US against commentator Candace Owens. This marks a new development in legal efforts to counter the baseless claim that Brigitte Macron is actually a man named Jean-Michel Trogneux.
The lawsuit describes Owens’ repeated online statements as "demonstrably false and damaging falsehoods," rejecting the suggestion that Brigitte Macron, 72, was assigned male at birth. It asserts that evidence thoroughly refutes this "absurd narrative," calling it part of a "global campaign of humiliation" and "relentless harassment."
The case has raised broader questions about the spread of conspiracy theories, whether legal action can curb them, and what such falsehoods reveal about public skepticism toward politicians in France, where the claim first gained traction after the pandemic.
"This is now among the most widely circulated false stories globally, reaching an estimated billion people," said Emmanuelle Anizon, a senior journalist for *Nouvel Obs*, who investigated the rumor’s origins. "What’s new is Emmanuel Macron joining his wife in pursuing legal action."
The lawsuit clarifies that Jean-Michel Trogneux is Brigitte’s older brother, not her true identity. Trogneux, 80, resides in Amiens, where he and Brigitte grew up in a family known for their chocolate business. He attended both of Macron's presidential inaugurations in 2017 and 2022.
Owens, whose podcast and social media following exceeds millions, stated this week that she stands by her claims.
The false rumor about Brigitte gained momentum in France in 2021 amid heightened distrust in politicians following the *gilets jaunes* protests and the pandemic, which claimed over 130,000 lives in the country.
In December 2021, a self-described "spiritual medium" named Amandine Roy hosted a four-hour YouTube interview with Natacha Rey, 51, who had worked for a small aromatherapy company and identified as "an independent investigative journalist with no ties to mainstream media."
Rey claimed she spent three years examining Brigitte Macron’s background after raising doubts about her appearance in photos, concluding that the first lady was actually Jean-Michel Trogneux. The interview quickly reached 500,000 views, and the hashtag #Jean-MichelTrogneux trended in France, amplified by far-right and anti-vaccine accounts. A minor far-right outlet had previously published—
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