PARIS – French President Emmanuel Macron and his wife Brigitte on Wednesday filed a defamation lawsuit against right-wing US influencer Candace Owens over her persistent claims that the French First Lady was born a male.
The lawsuit filed in the US state of Delaware accuses of Owens of spreading “outlandish, defamatory, and far-fetched fictions”.
Owens meanwhile has over the years insisted she will not back down from the claims and in March 2024 vowed she would stake her “entire professional reputation” on her belief that Mrs Macron “is in fact a man”.
She has used her popular podcast and social media channels (7m followers on X) to repeat conspiracy theories that claim Mrs Macron was born male under the name Jean-Michel Trogneux, which belongs to her brother.
Early this year she took matters further by releasing a video series titled Becoming Brigitte.
A statement from lawyers representing the French president and his wife revealed that they had repeatedly asked Owens for a retraction, but “ultimately concluded that referring the matter to a court of law was the only remaining avenue for remedy”.
“Ms Owens’ campaign of defamation was plainly designed to harass and cause pain to us and our families and to garner attention and notoriety,” the statement said.
“We gave her every opportunity to back away from these claims, but she refused.”
The Macrons allege Owens “disregarded all credible evidence disproving her claim in favor of platforming known conspiracy theorists and proven defamers.”
Legal experts have said that under US law the Macrons will have to prove “actual malice” – meaning that Owens knew the information was false, but she published or broadcast it anyway.
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