Emmanuel Macron and his wife, Brigitte, filed a lawsuit on Wednesday in Delaware Superior Court, targeting statements by social media influencer Candace Owens.
The Macrons said they filed the 218-page complaint after Owens repeatedly ignored requests to retract false and defamatory statements.
Why are the Macrons suing Candace Owens?
In an eight-part YouTube and podcast series called "Becoming Brigitte," Owens alleged that Brigitte Macron was born male and that the Macrons are blood relatives.
It also claims that Macron was selected to be France's president as part of a CIA-operated mind control program.
The complaint against Owens, who has millions of followers on X and YouTube, seeks a jury trial and unspecified punitive damages. In a joint statement through their attorney, the Macrons said Owens used the popularity of her podcast to spread "verifiably false and devastating lies."
"If ever there were a clear-cut case of defamation, this is it."
"Owens's defamation campaign was clearly designed to harass us, cause pain to our family, and generate attention and notoriety for herself," they wrote.
The complaint says that baseless speculation about Brigitte Macron's gender began surfacing in 2021, with the topic being discussed on popular conservative podcasts hosted by Tucker Carlson and Joe Rogan.
"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 complaint said.
"The result," the complaint added, "is relentless bullying on a worldwide scale."
The Macrons accuse Owens of building her brand on provocation rather than truth.
"Owens labels herself as an independent 'investigative journalist' while routinely peddling misinformation under the guise of legitimate reporting," the complaint says.
How has Owens reacted?
A spokesperson for Owens said the lawsuit was an effort to bully her. "Candace Owens is not shutting up," the spokesperson said.
"This is a foreign government attacking the First Amendment rights of an American independent journalist."
The statement said Owens had asked Brigitte Macron for an interview. "Instead of offering a comment, Brigitte is resorting to trying to bully a reporter into submission. In France, politicians can bully journalists, but this is not France. It's America."
Previous false allegations
Brigitte Macron has also pursued legal action in France over similar allegations regarding her gender identity.
Last year, two women — including a self-described medium — were convicted for spreading false claims online that she had been born a man named Jean-Michel Trogneux — in reality, her brother.
The ruling was later overturned by a Paris appeals court, prompting Brigitte Macron to appeal to France's highest court, the Court of Cassation, earlier this month.
