Ten individuals have been found guilty of cyber-bullying Brigitte Macron, wife of French President Emmanuel Macron, by a Paris court.
The accused were charged with disseminating false claims about her gender and sexuality, as well as making derogatory comments regarding the 24-year age difference between the couple.
Most of the defendants received suspended prison sentences of up to eight months, while one was incarcerated immediately for not appearing in court.
The judge stated that the eight men and two women acted with clear intent to harm Brigitte Macron through their degrading and insulting online remarks.
Two of the defendants, self-proclaimed independent journalist Natacha Rey and internet fortune-teller Amandine Roy, were previously convicted of slander in 2024 for claiming that France's first lady did not exist. They suggested that her brother, Jean-Michel Trogneux, had changed gender and adopted her name, although these libel convictions were later overturned.
This ruling in France precedes a larger defamation trial in the U.S., where the Macrons are suing right-wing influencer Candace Owens for similar conspiracies about Brigitte Macron's gender. They have claimed that Owens ignored credible evidence that disproved her assertions and inhabited a space that platformed conspiracy theorists and known defamers.
Owens has consistently propagated these claims across her podcast and social media, and publicly declared in March 2024 that she would stake her professional reputation on her belief that Mrs. Macron is 'in fact a man.'
A conspiracy theory suggesting Brigitte Macron is a transgender woman has been circulating since the couple first entered the public eye in 2017.
The couple met when Brigitte was a teacher at Emmanuel Macron's secondary school. They married in 2007 when he was 29 and she was in her mid-50s.
