French President Emmanuel Macron and his wife, Brigitte, have filed a defamation lawsuit against right-wing commentator Candace Owens, accusing her of a “relentless and unjustified smear campaign” falsely claiming Brigitte was born male, had transitioned, statutorily raped Macron when he was a teenager, and is related to him.
The 22-count complaint, filed July 23 in Delaware, says Owens spread these lies “in pursuit of fame.”
The complaint calls Owens’ statements “demonstrably false” and says she promoted them “in pursuit of fame,” despite knowing they were untrue. It accuses her of acting with “actual malice” — the legal standard for overcoming First Amendment protections in a defamation suit.
The alleged smear campaign began in March 2024, when Owens amplified a conspiracy theory about Brigitte Macron that was already the subject of a French defamation case against two far-right influencers who claimed the First Lady was transgender.
French influencers Amandine Roy and Natacha Rey were initially ordered to pay about $9,100 to Brigitte Macron and her brother, Jean-Michel Trogneux, for claiming Brigitte never existed and that her brother had transitioned and assumed her identity. A Paris appeals court later overturned the ruling, saying the women acted in “good faith.” Macron has appealed to France’s highest court.
The Macrons say they sent Owens a detailed letter demanding a retraction and providing evidence disproving the claims. They allege she ignored the letter,...
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