A Paris court has found 10 people guilty of cyberbullying France’s First Lady Brigitte Macron by spreading false online claims about her gender and sexuality, including allegations she was born a man.
The defendants, eight men and two women aged 41 to 65, are accused of having posted “numerous malicious comments” falsely claiming that President Emmanuel Macron’s wife was born a man and linking their 24-year age gap to pedophilia. Some of the posts were viewed tens of thousands of times.
The court convicted all defendants to sentences ranging from a cyberbullying awareness training to 8-month suspended prison sentences.
The court pointed to “particularly degrading, insulting, and malicious” comments referring to false claims regarding alleged trans identity and alleged pedo criminality targeting Brigitte Macron.
Defendant Delphine Jegousse, 51, who is known as Amandine Roy and describes herself as a medium and an author, is considered to have played a major role in spreading the rumor after she released a four-hour video on her YouTube channel in 2021. She was given a 6-month prison sentence.
The X account of Aurélien Poirson-Atlan, 41, known as Zoé Sagan on social media, was suspended in 2024 after his name was cited in several judicial investigations. Poirson-Atlan was given an 8-month prison sentence.
Other defendants include an elected official, a teacher and a computer scientist. Several told the court their comments were intended as humor or satire and said that they did not understand why they were being prosecuted.
Brigitte Macron did not attend the two-day trial in October. Speaking on television channel on Sunday, she said that she launched legal proceedings to “set an example” in the fight against harassment.
The case follows years of conspiracy theories falsely alleging that Brigitte Macron was born under the name Jean-Michel Trogneux, which is actually the name of her brother.
The conspiracy theory claiming that Brigitte Macron is a transgender woman has circulated since her husband was first elected in 2017.
The Macrons, who have been married since 2007, first met at the high school where he was a student and she was a teacher. Brigitte Macron, 24 years her husband’s senior, was then called Brigitte Auzière, a married mother of three.
Ruling Comes Amid Defamation Suit Against Candace Owens
Today’s ruling in France comes as the Macrons pursue a defamation lawsuit in the US against right-wing influencer Candace Owens, who has also voiced conspiracy theories about the First Lady’s gender.
They alleged that she “disregarded all credible evidence disproving her claim in favour of platforming known conspiracy theorists and proven defamers.”
Owens has regularly repeated the claims on her podcast and social media channels, and in March 2024 stated that she would stake her “entire professional reputation” on her belief that Mrs Macron “is in fact a man.”
French President, Emmanuel Macron has said that pursuing legal action against Owens was about “defending his honour” and that the influencer had peddled false information “with the aim of causing harm, in the service of an ideology and with established connections to far-right leaders.”
The Macrons’ lawyer, Tom Clare, said in an interview that a defamation suit filed for the Macrons in a Delaware court was “really a last resort” after a fruitless yearlong effort to engage with Owens and requests that she “do the right thing: tell the truth, stop spreading these lies.”
“Each time we’ve done that, she mocked the Macrons, she mocked our efforts to set the record straight. Enough is enough, it was time to hold her accountable.”
Tom Clare
In a YouTube video, Owens called the suit an “obvious and desperate public relations strategy.”
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