French President Emmanuel Macron and First Lady Brigitte Macron have filed a major defamation lawsuit in Delaware Superior Court (USA) against U.S. right‑wing podcaster Candace Owens. The suit alleges Owens repeatedly and falsely claimed that Brigitte Macron was born male, among other defamatory conspiracies.
In her eight-part podcast and YouTube series titled “Becoming Brigitte”, Owens asserted Brigitte was once named Jean‑Michel Trogneux, had stolen someone else’s identity, fathered her children, and that the Macrons are blood relatives engaged in a CIA mind‑control experiment.
The 218‑page (or 219‑page) complaint details 22 counts of defamation and false light, seeking punitive damages and a jury trial, and alleging Owens knowingly spread falsehoods for financial or promotional gain .
The Macrons had previously sent three retraction demands (starting December 2024, with the final letter on July 1, 2025), all of which they say Owens ignored. They say her campaign was meant to humiliate their family and bolster her notoriety rather than pursue truth.
Owens, via her spokesperson and livestream, has refused to retract the claims and framed the lawsuit as an attack on her First Amendment rights, calling out the Macrons for attempting to suppress journalistic freedom.
Notably, in 2024 Brigitte Macron had successfully sued two individuals in France—a blogger and a self-described medium—for spreading similar claims. They were ordered to pay damages, though the ruling was later overturned on appeal, prompting Brigitte to appeal to France’s Court of Cassation.
