Ten individuals accused of harassing Brigitte Macron, the spouse of French President Emmanuel Macron, will stand trial in Paris immediately, as a part of a case the couple introduced towards people who they declare unfold false allegations that the French first woman was born a person.
The French trial — which pertains to a authorized grievance filed by Brigitte in 2024 — is separate from a lawsuit the Macrons filed in the U.S. in July towards right-wing political podcaster Candace Owens, who the couple claims used the rumour about Brigitte’s organic intercourse to bolster her recognition.
President of France Emmanuel Macron and his spouse Brigitte Macron arrive in Downing Road, London, on day two of their state go to to the UK. Image date: Wednesday July 9, 2025.
Photograph cStefan Rousseau/PA Wire
The Macrons stated in a lawsuit filed in Delaware Superior Court that Owens has waged a lie-filled “marketing campaign of worldwide humiliation” and “relentless bullying” to advertise her podcast and develop her “frenzied” fan base.
In the meantime, in Paris, eight males and two girls between the ages of 41 and 60 began their trial in legal courtroom, all accused of on-line harassment focusing on Macron.
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If discovered responsible, they withstand two years in jail.
Based on The Guardian, prosecutors say the defendants — all of whom deny the accusations — made a number of malicious feedback about Brigitte’s gender and sexuality, and allegedly stated the age distinction between her and her husband equates to pedophilia.
Brigitte is 72, and her husband is 47.
Brigitte Macron was generally known as Brigitte Auzière, a 39-year-old married mom of three, when she met a 15-year-old Macron whereas he was a scholar at the highschool the place she taught.
He moved to Paris for his final yr of highschool, however promised to marry Brigitte. She later moved to the French capital to hitch him, and divorced earlier than they lastly married in 2007, when he was 30.
The allegations about her intercourse date again to fringe on-line discourse from the COVID-19 pandemic, when French content material creators Amandine Roy — who’s among the many defendants — and Natacha Rey made a YouTube video speculating about Brigitte’s intercourse.
In 2021, Roy posted the prolonged interview with Rey, a self-proclaimed impartial journalist, alleging that Macron, whose delivery title is Trogneux, was as soon as a person named Jean-Michel Trogneux.
The couple won a defamation lawsuit in France towards Roy and Rey in 2024, however the verdict was overturned in 2025 on grounds of freedom of expression.
A girl named Aurélien Poirson-Atlan, a publicist who goes by the title “Zoé Sagan,” can be among the many accused.
In August, as a part of the U.S. lawsuit towards Owens, the Macrons stated they might be submitting scientific evidence to a U.S. courtroom proving that Brigitte was born a feminine.
In March 2024, Owens wrote on X, “I stake my total skilled status on the truth that Brigitte Macron is in truth a person.”
FILE – Conservative commentator Candace Owens speaks on the Conference of the Proper in Paris on Sept. 28, 2019. (AP Photograph/Michel Euler, File).
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In an interview with conservative influencer Tucker Carlson earlier this yr, Owens stated she didn’t need the case to be dismissed as a result of it was about one thing “a lot greater.”
“It’s extremely upsetting to suppose that you must go and topic your self, to place any such proof ahead,” the Macrons’ lawyer, Tom Clare, instructed the BBC in September, in response to the case towards Owens.
Brigitte has not spoken publicly on the allegation since 2022.
— With information from International Information reporter Katie Scott
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