TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - French President Emmanuel Macron and his wife, Brigitte Macron, have filed a defamation lawsuit against American podcaster Candace Owens. The lawsuit was submitted on Wednesday, July 17, 2025, to the High Court of Delaware in the United States.
According to a 22-point legal document reported by CBS News, the Macrons accused Owens of spreading false claims that Brigitte was born male under the name Jean-Michel Trogneux, who is actually her brother.
The lawsuit accuses Owens of launching a “global defamation campaign” and engaging in “relentless harassment” for personal promotion and podcast publicity.
From Identity Theft to CIA Conspiracy
As reported by Euronews, the Macrons detailed that Owens pushed various baseless conspiracy theories.
These included claims that Brigitte had stolen another person’s identity, transitioned to female, and was involved in an incestuous relationship with Macron, who, according to Owens, became president through a CIA mind-control operation like MKUltra.
The lawsuit argues that Owens knowingly spread false information. It states that her goal was not to uncover the truth, but to gain fame by promoting sensational lies.
"These claims are demonstrably false, and Owens knew they were false when she published them," the lawsuit states. "Yet, she published them anyway. And the reason is clear: it is not the pursuit of truth, but the pursuit of fame."
Request for Withdrawal of Claims Rejected
Candace Owens. Shutterstock
The Macrons said they had sent Owens three formal takedown requests between December 2024 and July 1, 2025. These were ignored. Instead, Owens launched an eight-part podcast titled Becoming Brigitte and shared related posts on X.
“Ms. Owens' campaign of defamation was plainly designed to harass and cause pain to us and our families and to garner attention and notoriety,” the Macrons said in a joint statement cited by CBS News. They added that despite multiple chances to correct the record, Owens refused, prompting them to pursue legal action to stop the campaign.
In response, a spokesperson for Owens said she would not be silenced and claimed the lawsuit represented a foreign government interfering with the First Amendment rights of an American journalist. Owens also said she had requested an interview with Brigitte Macron but never received a reply.
Later that day, Owens appeared in a YouTube livestream where she denied the allegations and declined to retract her claims. She began the stream with a clip from Gladiator, saying, “This is how I feel right now. I just received the lawsuit today.”
Owens Faces Similar Legal Battle in France
The lawsuit also names Candace Owens LLC and the site manager of GeorgeTom, Inc. as co-defendants. The document states that the transgender rumor about Brigitte first appeared online in March 2021 and was revived by Owens in 2024 while she was with The Daily Wire.
After parting ways with the outlet, Owens launched her own podcast and continued spreading similar allegations.
This is not the first time Brigitte Macron has taken legal action over the rumor. In 2021, she filed a defamation lawsuit in France against two women, Amandine Roy and Natacha Rey. While a lower court initially ruled in her favor, the appeals court overturned the decision. The case is currently under review in France’s court of cassation.
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