The Daily Populous Friday September 19th, 2025 morning edition
Authored by bbc.com and submitted by xratez

Macrons to offer 'scientific evidence' to US court to prove Brigitte is a woman, lawyer says

1 day ago Share Save Anoushka Mutanda-Dougherty , Melanie Stewart-Smith and Victoria Farncombe Fame Under Fire podcast Share Save

Emmanuel Macron and his wife, Brigitte, are planning to present photographic and scientific evidence to a US court to prove Mrs Macron is a woman. Their lawyer says the French president and Mrs Macron will present the documentation in a defamation suit they have taken against the right-wing influencer Candace Owens after she promoted her belief that Brigitte Macron was born male. Ms Owens' lawyers have responded with a motion to dismiss the claim. Speaking to the BBC's Fame Under Fire podcast, the Macrons' lawyer in the case, Tom Clare, said Mrs Macron had found the claims "incredibly upsetting" and they were a "distraction" to the French president.

"I don't want to suggest that it somehow has thrown him off his game. 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," he said. Mr Clare said there would be "expert testimony that will come out that will be scientific in nature" and while he would not reveal, at this stage, its exact nature, he said the couple were prepared to demonstrate fully "both generically and specifically" that the allegations are false. "It is incredibly upsetting to think that you have to go and subject yourself, to put this type of proof forward," he said. "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. "If that unpleasantness and that discomfort that she has of opening herself up in that way is what it takes to set a record straight and stop this, she's 100% ready to meet that burden."

The Macrons' lawyer Tom Clare says the couple find the allegations upsetting and can demonstrate they are false

When asked if the Macrons would be supplying pictures of Brigitte pregnant and raising her children, Mr Clare said they existed and would be presented in court where there are rules and standards. Ms Owens, a former commentator for conservative US outlet Daily Wire who has millions of followers on social media, has repeatedly promoted her view that Brigitte Macron is a man. In March 2024, she claimed she would stake her "entire professional reputation" on the allegation.

The allegation originated in fringe online spaces years earlier, notably through a 2021 YouTube video by French bloggers Amandine Roy and Natacha Rey. The Macrons initially won a defamation case in France against Roy and Rey in 2024, but that ruling was overturned on appeal in 2025 on freedom of expression grounds, not on the basis of truth. The Macrons are appealing the decision. In July, the Macrons filed a lawsuit against Ms Owens in the US. It alleges she "disregarded all credible evidence disproving her claim in favour of platforming known conspiracy theorists and proven defamers". In American defamation cases against public figures, plaintiffs are required to prove "actual malice" - that the defendant knowingly spread false information or acted with reckless disregard for the truth.

Candace Owens Candace Owens has repeated her claim that Brigitte Macron is a man, on YouTube and social media

50centourist on September 18th, 2025 at 23:30 UTC »

Since when, and why, would anybody have to document their gender for a court? How criminally degrading!

romafa on September 18th, 2025 at 22:34 UTC »

I’m so surprised people are obsessed with this and not the fact that she groomed him.

dkyguy1995 on September 18th, 2025 at 22:10 UTC »

Why even entertain insults like this