THE GUARDIAN: French president and wife allege rightwing influencer Candace Owens is using defamatory attacks against them to boost media profile
The French president, Emmanuel Macron, and his wife plan to present scientific evidence to a US court to prove that Brigitte Macron was not born a man, the lawyer representing them in a defamation suit has said.
The couple filed the suit in July against Candace Owens, a rightwing influencer, and her business, alleging continuing defamatory attacks against them in order to boost the profile of her media platform, gain more audience and make money.
Owens said last year she would “stake [her] entire professional reputation on the fact that Brigitte Macron is in fact a man” named Jean-Michel Trogneux, and has since doubled down on the false claim, including in an eight-part podcast series.
The Macrons’ lawyer, Tom Clare, of the law firm Clare Locke, which has won several high-profile defamation cases, told the BBC’s Fame under Fire podcast that Brigitte Macron had found the claims “incredibly upsetting” and they were a “distraction” for the French president. » | Jon Henley, Europe correspondent |Thursday, September 18, 2025
