Emmanuel Macron and his wife Brigitte are preparing to present photographic and scientific evidence to a US court to prove Mrs Macron is a woman, as their defamation lawsuit against right-wing influencer Candace Owens enters a dramatic new phase.
Speaking exclusively to the BBC’s Fame Under Fire podcast, the French president’s lawyer Tom Clare revealed the couple are willing to undergo an unprecedented public disclosure of intimate personal details to combat what they describe as a “campaign of global humiliation” orchestrated by the American podcaster.
The Delaware Superior Court case, which comprises 22 counts of defamation and false light, centres on Owens’ repeated claims that the 72-year-old French first lady was born male – allegations the conservative commentator says she would “stake my entire professional reputation on.”
Mr Clare, whose firm Clare Locke previously represented Dominion Voting Systems in their $787 million (£622 million) settlement against Fox News, said Mrs Macron had found the claims “incredibly upsetting” and that they were proving a significant “distraction” to the French president.
I don’t want to suggest that it somehow has thrown him off his game,” Clare told the BBC. “But just like anybody who is juggling a career and a family life as well, when your family is under attack, it wears on you. And he’s not immune from that because he’s the president of a country.”
The lawyer confirmed there would be “expert testimony that will come out that will be scientific in nature” to definitively prove the allegations are false. Whilst declining to reveal the exact nature of this evidence at this stage, Clare said the couple were prepared to demonstrate “both generically and specifically” that Mrs Macron was born female.
“It is incredibly upsetting to think that you have to go and subject yourself, to put this type of proof forward,” Clare acknowledged. “It is a process that she will have to subject herself to in a very public way. But she’s willing to do it. She is firmly resolved to do what it takes to set the record straight.”
When pressed about whether the Macrons would supply photographs of Brigitte pregnant and raising her three children from her first marriage, Clare confirmed such evidence existed and would be presented in court “where there are rules and standards.”
The 218-page complaint filed in July details how Owens, who boasts 4.5 million YouTube subscribers and millions more followers across social media platforms, launched an eight-part video series titled “Becoming Brigitte” that has garnered millions of views. The lawsuit alleges Owens not only claimed Mrs Macron was born Jean-Michel Trogneux – actually her brother’s name – but also that the Macrons are blood relatives engaged in incest and that Emmanuel Macron was installed as president through a CIA mind-control programme.
“Owens disregarded all credible evidence disproving her claim in favour of platforming known conspiracy theorists and proven defamers,” the lawsuit states. The complaint cites extensive evidence refuting the claims, including contemporary newspaper announcements of Brigitte’s birth as a female, childhood photographs, and the fact she gave birth to three children with her first husband André-Louis Auzière.
The legal action represents what Clare describes as “really a last resort” after a year of unsuccessful attempts to engage with Owens. “We have attempted to engage with her for the last year—putting evidence in front of her, request after request after request that she just simply do the right thing: tell the truth, stop spreading these lies,” he told CNN. “Each time we’ve done that, she mocked the Macrons.”
Owens’ response has been characteristically defiant. In a 52-minute podcast episode following the lawsuit’s filing, she declared: “If you need any more evidence that Brigitte Macron is definitely a man, it is just what is happening right now. The idea that you would file this lawsuit is all of the proof that you need.”
She has vowed to depose President Donald Trump, claiming he personally confronted Macron about his wife’s gender, and provocatively stated her lawyer would “be able to sit across and ask Brigitte Macron questions about her penis.
Owens’ lawyers have filed a motion to dismiss, arguing the case should not proceed in Delaware despite her businesses being incorporated there, claiming it would cause “substantial financial and operational hardship.”
The allegations originated in fringe online spaces, notably through a 2021 YouTube video by French bloggers Amandine Roy and Natacha Rey. Whilst the Macrons initially won a defamation case against the pair in France last year, with both women fined and ordered to pay damages, that ruling was sensationally overturned on appeal in July 2025.
The Paris Court of Appeal acquitted Roy and Rey on freedom of expression grounds, ruling their claims were made in “good faith” – crucially not validating the truth of their statements. The Macrons have appealed this decision to France’s highest court, the Court of Cassation.
In American defamation cases involving public figures, plaintiffs must meet the high bar of proving “actual malice” – that the defendant knowingly spread false information or acted with reckless disregard for the truth. Clare believes they have compelling evidence, noting Owens was repeatedly provided with proof disproving her claims yet persisted in spreading them.
“If she continues to double down between now and the time of trial, it will be a substantial award,” Clare warned, though he declined to specify the damages being sought.
Emmanuel Macron addressed the impact of the rumours in an interview with Paris Match in August, stating: “This is about defending my honour! Because this is nonsense. This is someone who knew full well that she had false information and did so with the aim of causing harm, in the service of an ideology and with established connections to far-right leaders.”
The case has drawn international attention as a rare instance of a sitting head of state filing a defamation lawsuit against a media personality. It also raises significant questions about the spread of disinformation in the digital age and the limits of free speech protections.
A spokesperson for Owens has framed the lawsuit as “a foreign government attacking the First Amendment rights of an American independent journalist,” adding that Owens had repeatedly requested an interview with Brigitte Macron which was refused.
The couple’s willingness to undergo such public scrutiny underscores the severity of their response to what began as fringe conspiracy theories but has now reached millions through Owens’ platform. As Clare noted: “That’s how disinformation takes root. That’s how disinformation wins.”
The Delaware Superior Court has yet to set a trial date, but Clare confirmed the Macrons are willing to travel to the United States to appear in person, marking an extraordinary moment in both French political history and American jurisprudence.
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Image Credit:
French President Emmanuel Macron and Brigitte lay roses at Pierre Charles L’Enfant’s gravesite, Arlington National Cemetery (30 Nov 2022) — U.S. Army photo by Elizabeth Fraser / Arlington National Cemetery, public domain.
