France’s first lady Brigitte Macron sues over transgender claims as next election looms
- Two women, a self-proclaimed spiritual medium and an independent journalist, are accused of spreading rumours that the president’s wife is transgender
- This isn’t the first time the couple has been targeted by speculation on gender or orientation – Emmanuel Macron denied he was gay during his 2017 campaign
Brigitte Macron, France’s first lady, has filed a lawsuit against two women who claimed she was transgender, sparking a wave of online rumour-mongering weeks ahead of her husband’s expected re-election campaign, a legal source said Friday.
A first hearing has been set for June 15 in Paris for civil proceedings that claim a violation of privacy and fundamental personal rights, and illicit use of her image.
A lawyer for Brigitte Macron, Jean Ennochi, said that she and her brother, Jean-Michel Trogneux, had also filed a complaint for libel, a charge that could spur prosecutors to open a criminal case.
The legal action was first reported by M6 television, which said it was co-filed by Brigitte Macron’s three children from a previous marriage as well as her brother.
In recent months messages have multiplied on social media claiming that the first lady, formerly Brigitte Trogneux, is a trans woman whose name at birth was “Jean-Michel.”