French President Emmanuel Macron, 47, and his wife Brigitte, 72, filed an explosive lawsuit against right-wing firebrand Candace Owens on Wednesday over Owens’ repeated claims that the French first lady is a trans woman.
The Macrons, who filed the 219-page lawsuit in Delaware Superior Court, claimed Owens used her claim that Brigitte Macron “is in fact a man” to “promote her independent platform, gain notoriety, and make money.” In doing so, they claimed, Owens “endorsed, repeated, and published a series of verifiably false and devastating lies about the Macrons” on her eponymous podcast.
“These claims are demonstrably false, and Owens knew they were false when she published them,“ they wrote. ”Yet, she published them anyway. And the reason is clear: it is not the pursuit of truth, but the pursuit of fame.”
The Macrons hired the powerhouse legal firm Clare Locke, founded by couple Tom Clare and Libby Locke, to represent them. Clare and Locke did not respond to an immediate request for comment.
A spokesperson for Owens said the podcaster will address the lawsuit on her podcast on Wednesday, claiming she was “just learning about this in the press.”
The spokesperson later said Owens was “not shutting up” and accused the Macrons of trying to “bully a reporter into submission.”
“This is a foreign government attacking the First Amendment rights of an American independent journalist,” he added. “Candace repeatedly requested an interview with Brigitte Macron. Instead of offering a comment, Brigitte is resorting to trying to bully a reporter into submission. In France, politicians can bully journalists, but this is not France. It’s America. Candace will address everything on her show today, where she will continue to express her First Amendment rights.”
The French couple singled out Owens’ six-part video series “Becoming Brigitte,” in which Owens claimed Brigitte was born a man and stole a French person’s identity—using the name Jean-Michel Trogneux, the name of her brother—before she transitioned.
Owens has previously said she would “stake my entire professional career on the fact that Brigitte Macron, the current first lady of France was born a man.”
She has relentlessly promoted conspiracy theories throughout her career, including claims about Jewish people and COVID-19. Australia blocked her speaking tour in the country last year after it revoked her visa, with its immigration minister saying that “Australia’s national interest is best served when Candace Owens is somewhere else.”
“Her content is not intended to inform but to inflame and attract attention through sensationalism and conspiracy theories,” the Macrons said in the filing.
Macron has previously blasted the long-running conspiracy theory as “false information and fabricated scenarios,” but this is the first legal action he has taken himself against someone spreading the claim. Brigitte filed and won a defamation lawsuit in France against two people who promoted the claim there, but the verdict was overturned on appeal.
“Owens has dissected their appearance, their marriage, their friends, their family, and their personal history—twisting it all into a grotesque narrative designed to inflame and degrade,” the two said in their filing. “The result is relentless bullying on a worldwide scale.”
Macron and his wife elaborated further on how the two met, highlighting their wide age gap while explaining they only romantically consummated their relationship within the boundaries of the law.
Brigitte was a 39-year-old French and drama teacher to Macron’s 15-year-old high school student, and the two formed a “deeper intellectual connection” as they worked on school plays. When Macron’s parents got wind, the couple admitted in the filing, they transferred him to a new school. Macron told Brigitte, “Whatever you do, I will marry you,” before he left, and the two eventually married in 2007.
The two also claimed they repeatedly tried to get Owens to retract her claims, but that only led her to double down. “Owens, fully aware of the truth, has not only declined to retract her statements but has actively expanded on them,” they wrote.
The Macrons demanded a jury trial and punitive damages, and Clare told the Financial Times the French couple would be willing to travel to Delaware to face Owens in court.
“The principle here is truth,” Clare said. “They believe it’s important to stand up for themselves... Owens has had multiple opportunities to do the right thing and in response she has only mocked them.”
