Brigitte and Emmanuel Macron have filed a defamation lawsuit in U.S. federal court against Candace Owens, accusing the conservative commentator of spreading a series of knowingly false and damaging claims that the First Lady of France was born biologically male.
Filed in Delaware on Wednesday, the extraordinary 219-page lawsuit demands a jury trial and seeks unspecified damages for 22 separate counts of defamation. It alleges that Owens launched a “campaign of global humiliation” by repeatedly publishing debunked conspiracy theories, including the claim that Brigitte Macron is a transgender woman who stole another person’s identity.
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According to the filing, Owens made the first public accusation in March 2024, stating she would “stake [her] entire professional reputation” on the claim that Mrs. Macron “is in fact a man.” The lawsuit says Owens promoted this narrative ever since, most prominently through an eight-part podcast titled “Becoming Brigitte,” published after she received a legal retraction demand from the Macrons.
In the podcast and associated posts on X, Owens allegedly claimed the French First Lady was born male and transitioned to her current identity; that she and President Macron...
By Joseph Ataman, Saskya Vandoorne | CNN Paris (CNN) — French President Emmanuel Macron and his wife, Brigitte, filed a 22-count defamation lawsuit in the United States against right-wing podcaste...