France's Macrons to fight Candace Owens’ gender rumours with scientific evidence in US court

Brigitte Macron, 72, is 24 years older than the French president.

French President Emmanuel Macron and his wife, Brigitte Macron, plan to present photographic and scientific evidence in a US court to refute conspiracy theories promoted by rightwing commentator Candace Owens, their lawyer has confirmed.

Early this July, the couple had filed a defamation suit against Owens and her media business, accusing her of deliberately spreading false claims that Brigitte Macron was born male, in a bid to boost her platform, attract a larger audience and profit financially.

Owens has repeatedly alleged that the French first lady is “in fact a man” named Jean-Michel Trogneux, Brigitte’s brother, and doubled down on the claim in an eight-part podcast series.

“I would stake my entire professional reputation on the fact that Brigitte Macron is in fact a man,” Owens had remarked last year.

The Macrons’ lawyer, Tom Clare of Clare Locke, a US law firm known for winning several high-profile defamation cases, told the BBC’s Fame Under Fire podcast that the allegations had been devastating. “Brigitte Macron found the claims incredibly upsetting,” Clare had said, adding they had also become a “distraction” for the French president.

Clare confirmed the couple is prepared to present comprehensive proof to discredit the theory. “Expert testimony will come out that will be scientific in nature,” he said. While declining to specify what the evidence would include, he noted the couple was ready to demonstrate “both generically and specifically” that the allegations were false.

“It is a process that she will have to subject herself to in a very public way,” Clare said. “But she is firmly resolved to do what it takes to set the record straight.” He further noted that photos of Brigitte Macron pregnant and raising her children would also be presented.

The lawsuit also mentions that Jean-Michel Trogneux is Brigitte’s elder brother and lives in Amiens, northern France, where he grew up with Brigitte and their four siblings. He has attended both of Emmanuel Macron’s presidential inaugurations in 2017 and 2022.

To be mentioned here, Brigitte Macron, 72, is 24 years older than the president. She met Emmanuel Macron when she was running a high school theatre workshop that he attended. She has three children from her previous marriage, born in 1975, 1977, and 1984, as well as seven grandchildren.

It was in 2021 that conspiracy theories about her gender identity first went viral in France. That year, Brigitte and her brother had won a defamation case against two bloggers, Amandine Roy and Natacha Rey, though an appeals court later ruled the case did not fit the strict legal definition of defamation.

The siblings have since taken the matter to France’s highest court.

In the US case, the Macrons allege Owens “disregarded all credible evidence disproving her claim in favour of platforming known conspiracy theorists and proven defamers.” Owens’ lawyers, however, have filed a motion to dismiss, arguing that the case should not have been filed in Delaware, where her businesses are incorporated, since the claims were unrelated to them. Owens has continued to insist she stands by her allegations.