Brigitte and Emmanuel Macron have accused right-wing podcaster Candace Owens of doubling down on fake birth claims in order to boost her online following since they sued her for libel in the US.
The Macrons have added to their lawsuit, initially filed in July in Delaware, alleging that Owens has expanded on her fake claims that Brigitte, 72, was born a man.
Lawyers for the couple wrote: ‘Since we filed this lawsuit, Ms Owens has only strengthened our case by doubling down on, and escalating, her knowingly false and defamatory rhetoric against the Macrons.
‘She has continued to use her podcast to expand her lies about the Macrons, sell merchandise making fun of the Macrons, and collect donations based on her “reporting”‘.
This month saw Owens release a new season of ‘Becoming Brigitte’, a series she started last year in which she makes the false claims of circumstances of the First Lady of France’s birth.
The amended lawsuit, which is now 250 pages long, adds that Owens has ‘gone so far as to suggest that the Macrons are involved in an alleged conspiracy to distract Owens from investigating’.
The lawyers added: ‘Owens’s fan base has grown to 7.2 million followers on X and 5.21 million subscribers on YouTube. The most popular podcasts in the world have discussed her ‘investigation’ into the Macrons’ history.’
The spurious claims were born from a 2021 ‘investigation’ published in an small, far-Right magazine accused of platforming antisemitism and conspiracy theories, called Faits et Documents (Facts & Documents).
The piece, co-authored by self-styled independent journalist Natacha Rey and Xavier Poussard, went unnoticed for some time.
That was until Rey gave an interview on YouTube about her unfounded speculations with ‘spiritual medium’ Delphine Jégousse – alias Amandine Roy – in a four-hour video that went viral before France’s 2022 presidential election.
Though Rey and Poussard were found to have defamed Brigitte in September 2024, this didn’t stop Owens from picking up the story last year.
Owens’ claims have reverberated around the world, so much so that the Macrons will soon be forced to submit ‘photographic’ and ‘scientific’ evidence to disprove the claims and demonstrate irrefutably that Brigitte is a woman.
The lawsuit states: ‘Owens has dissected their appearance, their marriage, their friends, their family and their personal history — twisting it all into a grotesque narrative designed to inflame and degrade. The result is relentless bullying on a worldwide scale.
‘Every time the Macrons leave their home, they do so knowing that countless people have heard, and many believe, these vile fabrications. It is invasive, dehumanising and deeply unjust’.
Owens have strongly pushed back against the lawsuit, claiming that the Macrons are engaging in a ‘public relations strategy’.
She has vowed to fight to the bitter end, saying: ‘On behalf of the entire world, I will see you in court’.
