Brigitte Macron was given a male name on the official French tax portal by a team of cruel hackers, according to a top governmental official.
The glamorous French First Lady, 72, is locked in a bitter yet bizarre legal battle to prove she is a biological woman as 10 people now face trial for “sexist cyberbullying” on Monday.
Mrs Macron, the wife of President Emmanuel Macron, has faced humiliation in Paris after hackers reportedly altered her name to Jean-Michel on the national tax filing system.
A routine audit of Brigitte’s tax reports in September 2024 discovered the nasty dig, according to the head of the administration for the Macrons, Tristan Bomme.
“Like many French people, Madame Macron logged into her personal account on the tax website. She logs into the system and sees that it does not say Brigitte Macron, but Jean-Michel Macron,” Mr Bomme said.
He added that Brigitte made an official complaint once the alteration had been uncovered by her representatives.
Deliberate Cyberattack Confirmed
Fears of a software glitch were investigated but it was soon found to be the result of a deliberate intervention, according to Mr Bomme.
The section which had been edited is impossible to change without the individual user’s permission, the administrator explained, indicating sophisticated access to secure government systems.
Two suspects were identified as having an involvement in the cyberattack by changing the name in the database, with investigators tracing the unauthorised modifications back to specific accounts.
Eight men and two women will be tried before the Paris Criminal Court on Monday for sexist cyberbullying against Brigitte, marking an escalation in the French authorities’ response to online harassment of the First Lady.
The defendants, all aged between 41 and 60, include an elected official, gallery owner, teacher, medium and even a computer scientist, revealing the diverse backgrounds of those allegedly involved in targeting Mrs Macron.
They are accused of making numerous malicious comments about Brigitte around her “gender” and “sexuality”, contributing to a coordinated campaign of harassment.
Years of Vicious Rumours
For years, vicious rumours claiming Brigitte was born a man have spread online by conspiracy theorists and right-wing personalities attempting to undermine the French presidency.
One of the biggest proponents is US pundit Candace Owens, who has used her substantial platform to promote the baseless allegations.
Last March, Owens said she “would stake [her] entire professional reputation” on the claim that Brigitte was born male, making the extraordinary statement to her hundreds of thousands of viewers.
She even alleged Brigitte is in fact her brother, Jean-Michel Trogneux, and that her first husband never existed, repeating conspiracy theories that have circulated in far-right circles for years.
Legal Action Against Owens
Hurt by the outlandish comments broadcast to hundreds of thousands of viewers, both Brigitte and Emmanuel Macron took legal action against the American commentator.
They filed for defamation in July and vowed to do whatever necessary to prove Brigitte is and always has been a woman, marking a significant international legal battle.
But Owens hit back by saying she would demand a medical examination as part of any trial, escalating the confrontation.
“We’re going to demand Brigitte sit down for an exam with an independent doctor. We’re coming for her medical records,” the conservative pundit announced.
Her lawyers have insisted Owens has a right to say what she believes under free speech laws, setting up a clash between American First Amendment protections and French defamation statutes.
Origins of Conspiracy Theory
The rumours about Brigitte’s birth gender first took off in France after far-right magazine Faits et Documents printed them in 2021, giving the conspiracy theory initial credibility in extremist circles.
They were later peddled to the public by bloggers Natacha Rey and Amandine Roy who pushed them in a YouTube interview that went viral, reaching millions of viewers across French-speaking social media.
The Macrons sued Rey and Roy for defamation in Paris and won with the two women being hit with huge fines for spreading false information about the First Lady.
But the pair were later acquitted by the Paris Court of Appeal over the incident on freedom of expression grounds, in a decision that shocked the Élysée Palace.
Brigitte has appealed the decision to overturn the court’s verdict, determined to establish legal precedent protecting public figures from malicious falsehoods.
Whistleblower Claims
Amandine, a self-proclaimed 51-year-old whistleblower, has long claimed that Brigitte is a transgender woman who was born Jean-Michel, repeating the central allegation at the heart of the conspiracy theory.
The bloggers allege that she never gave birth to her three children due to her gender, despite overwhelming evidence to the contrary including birth certificates and testimony from family members.
Brigitte married her first husband, André-Louis Auzière, in 1974 and had three children with him before divorcing in 2006. She later married Emmanuel Macron in 2007 after teaching him drama at secondary school in Amiens.
Presidential Denial
President Macron has furiously denied the allegations, branding them “false and fabricated” and defending his wife against what he describes as a coordinated smear campaign.
On International Women’s Day, he addressed the conspiracy theories directly, saying: “The worst thing is the false information and fabricated scenarios. People eventually believe them.”
The President has taken the unusual step of personally involving himself in legal proceedings against those spreading the rumours, demonstrating the seriousness with which the Élysée Palace views the matter.
The case has become a flashpoint in debates about online harassment, freedom of expression and the limits of acceptable political discourse in France.
Critics of the prosecutions argue they represent an attempt to silence legitimate questions, whilst supporters insist public figures have a right to protection from malicious falsehoods designed to humiliate and delegitimise them.
The trial of the 10 defendants on Monday will be closely watched as a test case for how French courts balance competing rights to privacy, dignity and free expression in the digital age.
Legal experts suggest the case could set important precedents for how European countries handle conspiracy theories and coordinated harassment campaigns targeting prominent women.
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Image Credit:
Brigitte Macron — photo by Francesco Ammendola / Ufficio per la Stampa e la Comunicazione della Presidenza della Repubblica (© Quirinale), licensed for use with attribution. (commons.wikimedia.org)
