Emmanuel and Brigitte Macron filed a defamation complaint in the United States on Wednesday, July 23, 2025 against the United States against the influencer Candace Owens, accusing her of knowingly relaying an info claiming that Brigitte Macron was born a man. The procedure, initiated before a court in Delaware, aims to obtain “exemplary” damages in the face of this campaign deemed defamatory.
French president Emmanuel Macron and his wife Brigitte hired defamation prosecution in the United States on Wednesday against the American influencer Candace Owens for having relayed and widely exploited in videos the info that Brigitte Macron is “Born man”.
This infox resurfaced regularly in France on social networks since the first election of Emmanuel Macron in 2017 prospered abroad, in particular in the United States after the far-right blogger Candace Owens seized it in March 2024, giving her a global echo since January 2025 by a series of videos entitled “Becoming Brigitte” (“to become Brigitte”).
A complaint filed
The presidential couple filed a defamation complaint on Wednesday before a court of Delaware (east), claiming an amount “copy” damages to be determined during a trial.
Their lawyers claim in the complaint that Candace Owens was fully aware of the falsity of these allegations and systematically rejected all requests for rectification, persisting in his “defamation campaign” pour “End a notoriety and make money”stressing that it now has 6.9 million subscribers to its X account and 4.7 million on YouTube.
According to the infox at the origin of this affair, very relayed in France by movements mixing conspirators, covido-skeptics or extreme right, Brigitte Macron, born Trogneux, would never have existed, but her brother Jean-Michel would have taken this identity after having changed sex.
Two women already sentenced
Two women, Natacha Rey and Amandine Roy, who had widely disseminated her, were sentenced in September by French justice to pay several thousand euros in damages to Brigitte Macron and 5,000 to Jean-Michel Togneux but they were released on appeal on July 10.
Brigitte Macron and her brother appeared in the cassation against this decision.