A Paris court has found ten people guilty of cyber-bullying Brigitte Macron, the wife of French President Emmanuel Macron.
The defendants were accused of spreading false claims about her gender and sexuality, as well as making “malicious remarks” about the couple’s 24-year age difference. They received suspended prison sentences of up to eight months. The full ruling is yet to be published.
The case relates to a long-running conspiracy theory alleging that Brigitte Macron is transgender, which has circulated since Emmanuel Macron was first elected in 2017.
Monday’s ruling comes as the Macrons pursue a defamation lawsuit in the United States against right-wing influencer Candace Owens, who has also promoted conspiracy theories about the first lady’s gender. The lawsuit claims Owens “disregarded all credible evidence disproving her claim in favour of platforming known conspiracy theorists and proven defamers.”
Owens has repeated the claims on her podcast and social media, and in March 2024 said she would stake her “entire professional reputation” on her belief that Mrs Macron “is in fact a man.”
Brigitte Macron met her husband when she was a teacher at his secondary school. They married in 2007, when Emmanuel Macron was 29 and she was in her mid-50s.
