Macron Couple Sues Podcaster Owens for Defamation Over Claims That French First Lady Was Once a Man

Macron Couple Sues Podcaster Owens for Defamation Over Claims That French First Lady Was Once a Man

[Paris, July 24, 2025] — French President Emmanuel Macron and his wife Brigitte Macron have filed a defamation lawsuit against U.S. right-wing podcaster Candace Owens. The lawsuit comes after Owens claimed in her podcast series that Brigitte Macron was once a man.

The case was filed Wednesday in the Delaware Superior Court in Washington. In the 218-page complaint, the Macron couple is seeking a jury trial and unspecified damages.

In a statement released through their attorney, the Macrons alleged that Owens repeatedly made false and defamatory statements in an eight-episode podcast and YouTube series titled “Becoming Brigitte.” The couple says that despite multiple requests to retract the claims, Owens refused to do so.

According to the complaint, the series includes “verifiably false and destructive” allegations — including that Brigitte stole another woman’s identity, underwent gender transition, and that she and Emmanuel Macron are biologically related and engaged in an incestuous relationship.

The lawsuit also addresses longstanding rumors about the couple’s age gap. It confirms that Brigitte was a teacher and Macron was a high school student aged 17 when their relationship began — but stresses that it was “within the bounds of the law.”

The couple stated,

“Owens’s defamatory campaign is clearly meant to harass and cause harm to us and our family. She was given every opportunity to retract her false claims, but she chose not to. We hope this lawsuit will bring a definitive end to this defamatory campaign and uncover the truth.”

In response, Candace Owens said on her Wednesday podcast that the lawsuit is “factually flawed” and described it as a “transparent and desperate PR stunt meant to discredit me.”

Owens added that she was unaware of the lawsuit prior to its filing, though communications between attorneys had been ongoing since January.

Her spokesperson claimed the suit was a “tactic to intimidate” Owens after multiple interview requests to Brigitte Macron were declined. He added,

“This is an attack on an American independent journalist’s freedom of speech by a foreign government.”

Do World Leaders Commonly File Defamation Lawsuits?

The Macrons' lawsuit is a rare example of a sitting world leader filing a defamation suit.

Former U.S. President Donald Trump has also turned to the courts. He filed a $10 billion defamation lawsuit against The Wall Street Journal over a report alleging he created an obscene birthday greeting for disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein in 2003.

Additionally, last December, Trump reached a $15 million settlement with Disney-owned ABC Network after it aired a report falsely claiming that he was convicted of rape, when in fact it had been a civil ruling in a sexual misconduct case.