French first lady Brigitte Macron has taken civil and criminal action against two women who spread fake news online claiming she is a transgender woman.
Mrs. Macron’s lawyer, Me Jean Ennochi, confirmed to AFP on Friday this information revealed by the M6 television channel.
On the civil side, a first hearing has been set for June 15 at the Paris court, a judicial source told AFP.
The two women assigned by Brigitte Macron present themselves one as a “medium” and the other, who was one of the main relays of this false news, as an “independent journalist”.
They had posted on the YouTube channel of the “medium”, on December 10, photos of the first lady and her family.
The three children of Brigitte Macron as well as her brother Jean-Michel Trogneux joined this summons, in particular for acts of invasion of privacy, violation of personality rights, violation of image rights, according to the attorney.
Ms. Macron and her brother also filed a complaint with civil action at the end of January for “defamation”, aiming to obtain this time a criminal trial in this case, said Me Ennochi.
Contacted, the Élysée did not respond.
For several months, messages have been swarming on social networks to claim that Brigitte Macron, born Trogneux, would in fact be a transgender woman whose birth name was Jean-Michel.
A vast conspiracy would be at work to hide this change in marital status, according to this false information which also declined in more serious accusations of pedocrime brought against the First Lady.
far-right review
This accusation, which initially circulated quietly, had a greater echo from mid-October when it was taken up in a far-right magazine, in an article signed by one of the two women targeted by the Mrs. Macron’s legal actions.
This false information gained further popularity in December, as the presidential campaign began to stir.
This is not the first time that the Macron couple has been targeted by rumors intertwining gender and sexual orientation. During the 2017 presidential campaign, Emmanuel Macron had to deny allegations of his alleged homosexuality.
Several women politicians have already paid the price for transphobic stories, such as the former First Lady of the United States Michelle Obama, the current American Vice-President Kamala Harris or the New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern.
At the beginning of 2019, Brigitte Macron had filed a complaint against an Ardennes who had posted a message, suspected of being a call for violence aimed at her, on the website of the regional daily L’Union. The man had been released at first instance, but the Reims prosecutor’s office had appealed.
Brigitte Macron’s entourage also filed a complaint in March 2018 for identity theft by a man who pretended to be his nephew in order to obtain various advantages and privileges. He was sentenced to one year in prison at the end of October 2021 in Paris.
Other First Ladies have also taken legal action, notably against celebrity magazines for invasion of privacy cases.