French President Emmanuel Macron and his wife, Brigitte Macron, have filed a defamation lawsuit in the United States against conservative American commentator Candace Owens.
The couple filed the 218-page complaint on Wednesday in Delaware, accusing Owens of spreading false claims that Brigitte Macron was born male and profiting from those allegations.
The lawsuit alleges that Owens falsely stated Brigitte Macron is actually Jean-Michel Trogneux, the French president’s brother, who she claims changed gender and identity to become Brigitte Macron.
Owens has repeatedly asserted this claim across her social media platforms and in podcast interviews, saying she would risk her “entire professional reputation on the fact that Brigitte Macron is in fact a man.”
The lawsuit outlines how Owens ignored multiple cease-and-desist letters and continued to make the statements, despite being told the information was false.
The Macrons’ legal team argues that Owens used the controversy to increase her audience and generate revenue through monetized content.
In a joint statement reported by the Financial Times, the Macrons said: “Because Ms Owens systematically reaffirmed these falsehoods in response to each of our attorneys’ repeated requests for a retraction, we ultimately concluded that referring the matter to a court of law was the