They were sentenced to a suspended fine of 500 euros and ordered to pay a total of 8,000 euros in damages to the wife of the President of the Republic.
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Two women who spread the rumor online that Brigitte Macron was a transgender woman, a hoax that went viral as far as the United States, were convicted on Thursday, September 12, by the Paris Criminal Court for defamation, the prosecutor’s office confirmed to franceinfo.
The two women were sentenced to a suspended fine of 500 euros, as well as to pay a total of 8,000 euros in damages to Brigitte Macron, and 5,000 euros to her brother Jean-Michel Trogneux, both civil parties in the trial, which was held last June. Brigitte Macron, who was absent during the trial, was also not present for the decision.
At the heart of the case is a theory that has regularly resurfaced on social networks since the election of Emmanuel Macron in 2017, according to which Brigitte Macron, née Trogneux, never existed, but that her brother Jean-Michel took this identity after changing sex.
The two women had largely contributed to making it known in 2021, via a long “interview” of more than four hours where the first, the “medium” Amandine Roy, interviewed the second, Natacha Rey, on her YouTube channel, “self-taught independent journalist” on the discovery of this “deception”, “scam”of this “state lie”.