Legal battle escalates as far-right US podcaster continues to spread false claims that France’s first lady was born a man
Emmanuel and Brigitte Macron have brought a fresh defamation lawsuit against Candace Owens in her home state of Tennessee, in an escalation of a transatlantic legal battle as the far-right US podcaster continues to spread false claims that France’s first lady was born a man.
The Macrons first sued Owens and her media companies in July 2025 in Delaware in response to what the French first couple called “verifiably false and devastating lies” being repeated by Owens on her podcast and on X. According to that lawsuit, those lies included that Brigitte Macron, 73, was born a man named Jean-Michel Trogneux – who is actually her older brother – and committed identity theft to hide a gender transition; that Emmanuel Macron was elected as French president as part of a CIA mind-control program; and that the couple are blood-related relatives committing incest.