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In December 2021, Natacha Rey and Amandine Roy broadcast unfounded rumours online alleging the first lady, formerly Brigitte Trogneux, had never existed and that her brother Jean-Michel had changed gender and assumed that identity.
A Paris court on Thursday found Rey and Roy guilty of slander, ordering them to pay 8,000 in damages to the president’s wife, and 5,000 to Jean-Michel Trogneux.
The defendents were also given a suspended fine of 500.
Brigitte Macron, 71, had filed a libel complaint against the two women after their claim went viral, triggering conspiracy theories notably among the far right.
Macron did not attend the trial in June and was not present for the ruling.
Rey was ill during the trial, but did not manage to have it postponed.
France's Brigitte Macron to sue over claims she was born a man
Roy, an online fortune-teller, interviewed Rey, a self-described independent journalist, for four hours on her YouTube channel in December 2021.
The women discussed the unsubstantiated rumour that Brigitte Macron had undergone gender reassignment, with Rey claiming to have uncovered a “state lie” and “scam”.
The claim went viral just weeks before the 2022 presidential election, spreading even to the US where Macron was derided in a now deleted YouTube video before the November midterm elections.
The claim was spread by accounts often opposed to President Emmanuel Macron, including followers of the QAnon conspiracy movement and the far right.
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