French President Emmanuel Macron and his wife, Brigitte Macron, have taken the rare step of filing a defamation lawsuit in the United States against U.S. conservative influencer Candace Owens. The lawsuit, filed on July 23, 2025, in Delaware Superior Court, accuses Owens of orchestrating a "campaign of global humiliation" against the French first couple, centered on her repeated false claims that Brigitte Macron was born male.
The 219-page complaint lays out 22 counts of defamation and false light, alleging that Owens has persistently spread "outlandish, defamatory, and far-fetched fictions" for more than a year to promote her podcast and expand her fan base. Owens, a right-wing podcaster with over 4.5 million YouTube subscribers and nearly 7 million followers on X, has denied the accusations and vowed to fight the lawsuit.
According to the Macrons' legal team, led by the high-profile law firm Clare Locke and Farnan LLP—known for their role in Dominion Voting Systems’ $790 million defamation settlement against Fox News—the lawsuit was a "last resort" after a year of failed attempts to get Owens to retract her claims. Tom Clare, the lead counsel, told CNN, "We have attempted to engage with [Owens] for the last year—putting evidence in front of her, request after request after request that she just simply do the right thing." He added, "Enough is enough, it was time to hold her accountable."
The core of Owens' defamatory claims revolves around conspiracy theories that Brigitte Macron was born a man named Jean-Michel Trogneux—the actual name of Brigitte's brother—and that the Macrons are involved in incest and other scandals. The complaint refutes these allegations with "extensive evidence," including childhood photographs, a contemporaneous newspaper birth announcement, and records showing Brigitte had three children with her first husband.
Owens' eight-part podcast series titled "Becoming Brigitte," which has garnered over 2.3 million views on YouTube, is cited extensively in the complaint. The series, according to the lawsuit, aggressively monetizes falsehoods and conspiracy theories, with Owens selling merchandise such as shirts featuring Brigitte Macron on a fake TIME magazine "Man of the Year" cover. The complaint accuses Owens of knowingly spreading lies "not in pursuit of truth, but the pursuit of fame."
Owens has a controversial history of spreading misinformation and antisemitic tropes. She was suspended from YouTube for hate speech in September 2024 and was denied visas to New Zealand and Australia in early 2025 due to her Holocaust denial and revisionist rhetoric. These factors were highlighted in the lawsuit as evidence of her disregard for factual accuracy.
In response to the lawsuit, Owens dismissed it as an "obvious and desperate public relations strategy" and doubled down on her claims during her July 24 podcast episode. She called the Macrons "sick" and "disgusting," stating, "I am fully prepared to take on this battle." Owens also accused the French government of attacking her First Amendment rights, with her spokesperson labeling the lawsuit as "a foreign government attacking the First Amendment rights of an American independent journalist."
The lawsuit also takes aim at Owens’ credibility, noting her history of "routinely peddling misinformation under the guise of legitimate reporting" and building a brand "on provocation, not truth." It references a 2024 French court ruling where two of Owens’ sources—self-described clairvoyant Amandine Roy and amateur detective Natacha Rey—were found liable for libel over similar false claims about Brigitte Macron. Although an appeals court overturned that ruling this July, it did so on the basis that the defendants acted in "good faith," not because the statements were true. Brigitte Macron and her brother have since appealed to France’s highest court.
The lawsuit highlights the global reach and impact of Owens’ statements. It cites Owens herself admitting in a March 2025 podcast episode that her claims had gone viral not only in France and the U.S. but also in the UK and Russia, influencing political discourse worldwide. High-profile media figures like Joe Rogan, whose podcast has 20 million YouTube subscribers, have echoed Owens’ claims, further amplifying the alleged defamation.
Owens has even suggested that she plans to depose former President Donald Trump in the case, alleging he confronted Macron about questions surrounding his wife’s gender. She also claimed her lawyer would be able to ask Brigitte Macron "questions about her penis" under oath, statements that underscore the provocative and contentious nature of the dispute.
The Macrons’ relationship, which has been scrutinized and distorted in Owens’ narratives, is well documented. They met when Emmanuel Macron was a high school student and Brigitte was his teacher. Brigitte was 39 and Emmanuel 15 at the time, which is the age of consent in France. The complaint stresses that their relationship "remained within the bounds of the law," countering Owens’ accusations that Brigitte is a "groomer" or "pedophile."
This lawsuit represents a rare instance of a sitting world leader and first lady pursuing defamation claims in a U.S. court. Public figures in the U.S. face a high legal standard in defamation cases, needing to prove "actual malice," meaning the defendant knew the statements were false or acted with reckless disregard for the truth.
French President Macron is currently serving his second and final term, with Brigitte Macron having celebrated her 72nd birthday in April 2025. The couple has faced conspiracy theories about Brigitte’s gender for years, but Owens’ campaign has elevated these claims to an unprecedented international level.
As the legal battle unfolds, it remains to be seen how the court will navigate the complex intersection of free speech, defamation law, and the global spread of misinformation. For now, the Macrons are determined to "set the record straight and end this campaign of defamation once and for all," while Owens vows to continue her fight, declaring, "We’re not going to shut up. You’re not going to bully us."
