PARIS. French President Emmanuel Macron and First Lady Brigitte Macron have filed a defamation lawsuit in the United States against right-wing podcaster Candace Owens over her repeated claims that Brigitte Macron was born male.
In a complaint filed Wednesday in Delaware Superior Court, the Macrons accused Owens of launching a “campaign of global humiliation” to promote her podcast and expand her online following. The lawsuit focuses on Owens’ eight-part podcast titled Becoming Brigitte, which has garnered over 2.3 million views on YouTube, as well as related posts on X (formerly Twitter).
The Macrons said Owens falsely claimed that Brigitte, 72, was born as “Jean-Michel Trogneux,” the name of her older brother. The complaint further states that Owens “dissected their appearance, their marriage, their friends, their family, and their personal history, twisting it all into a grotesque narrative designed to inflame and degrade.” The result, they said, has been “relentless bullying on a worldwide scale.”
According to the filing, Owens’ claims included that Brigitte Macron stole another person’s identity, transitioned to female, and that she and the president are blood relatives engaged in incest. The Macrons said their relationship began when Brigitte was Emmanuel Macron’s teacher, but it “remained within the bounds of the law.”
In a podcast episode released the same day, Owens dismissed the lawsuit as “littered with factual inaccuracies” and described it as a “desperate public relations strategy” intended to smear her. She also claimed she was unaware that the lawsuit was forthcoming, despite legal communications between both parties dating back to January.
A spokesperson for Owens framed the lawsuit as an attack on press freedom, saying, “This is a foreign government attacking the First Amendment rights of an American independent journalist.” The spokesperson added that Brigitte Macron had declined several interview requests from Owens.
In a joint statement issued through their lawyers, the Macrons said they had made three formal requests for Owens to retract her statements before pursuing legal action. “Ms. Owens’s campaign of defamation was plainly designed to harass and cause pain to us and our families and to garner attention and notoriety,” they said. “We gave her every opportunity to back away from these claims, but she refused.”
Defamation lawsuits filed by heads of state are rare. However, former U.S. President Donald Trump has also used the courts in recent years, including a $10 billion lawsuit against The Wall Street Journal and a $15 million settlement with ABC over misreporting of a civil case verdict.
To win a defamation case in the United States, public figures must prove “actual malice” that the defendant knowingly spread false information or acted with reckless disregard for the truth.
Rumors about Brigitte Macron’s gender began circulating online in 2021 and have since been discussed on high-profile podcasts hosted by Tucker Carlson and Joe Rogan. In September, Brigitte won a defamation case in a French court against two women involved in spreading similar rumors, but that ruling was overturned by an appeals court. She has since appealed the decision to France’s highest court.
The U.S. case is listed as Macron et al. v. Owens et al, Delaware Superior Court, No. N25C-07-194.
Si Venus L Peñaflor ay naging editor-in-chief ng Newsworld, isang lokal na pahayagan ng Laguna. Publisher din siya ng Daystar Gazette at Tutubi News Magazine. Siya ay isa ring pintor at doll face designer ng Ninay Dolls, ang unang Manikang Pilipino. Kasali siya sa DesignCrowd sa rank na #305 sa 640,000 graphic designers sa buong daigdig. Kasama din siya sa unang Local TV Broadcast sa Laguna na Beyond Manila. Aktibong kasapi siya ng San Pablo Jaycees Senate bilang isang JCI Senator.
- Venus L Peñaflor
- Venus L Peñaflor
- Venus L Peñaflor
- Venus L Peñaflor
