Topics: News, World News, US News, Emmanuel Macron, Politics
The wife of French President Emmanuel Macron is to present evidence to 'prove' that she was born a woman, their lawyer has said.
Brigitte Macron and her husband, 47, brought a defamation case against far-right US activist and commentator Candace Owens after Owens claimed that Brigitte was 'born a man', implying that she is transgender.
Lawyers representing Owens have filed a motion to dismiss the claim.
The American commenter started spreading false claims about the 79-year-old in 2024 in her YouTube videos and podcast episodes, and has previously said in March 2024 that she would stake her 'entire professional reputation' on her claim about Mrs Macron.
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The Macrons filed a defamation case against Owens and her business in July, alleging that the 36-year-old had spread 'outlandish, defamatory, and far-fetched' accusations which had resulted in a 'campaign of global humiliation' and 'relentless bullying' against the First Lady.
Now Tom Clare, a lawyer representing the Macrons in the case, has opened up about Owens' claims.
Mr Clare told the BBC's Fame Under Fire podcast that the French First Lady found Owens' claims 'incredibly upsetting' and that they were a 'distraction' to the French President.
He said: "I don't want to suggest that it somehow has thrown him off his game. But just like anybody who is juggling a career and a family life as well, when your family is under attack, it wears on you. And he's not immune from that because he's the President of a country."
The precise manner in which Mrs Macron will 'prove' that she was born a woman has not been made public; however, Mr Clare explained that there would be 'expert testimony that will come out that will be scientific in nature'.
"It is incredibly upsetting to think that you have to go and subject yourself to put this type of proof forward," he said. "It is a process that she will have to subject herself to in a very public way. But she's willing to do it. She is firmly resolved to do what it takes to set the record straight.
"If that unpleasantness and that discomfort that she has of opening herself up in that way is what it takes to set a record straight and stop this, she's 100% ready to meet that burden."
In their motion to dismiss the claim, Owen's lawyers said it shouldn't have been filed in Delaware, as it doesn't relate to her businesses, further claiming that being made to defend the case there would 'substantial financial and operational hardship'.
LADbible Group has contacted Owens for additional comment.
This is not the first time that Brigitte Macron has brought defamation suits against people who have made false claims about her gender.
In 2024, two French women who claimed that Mrs Macron is trans were found guilty of slander.
Natacha Rey and Amandine Roy spread false rumours in 2021 that Brigitte's brother Jean-Michel Trogneux had changed gender and started using that name.
After initially being convicted of slander, Rey and Roy were ordered to pay €8,000 (around $9,560) in damages to Mrs Macron, and €5,000 (around $5,900) to her brother.
However, the Paris Court of Appeals overturned the conviction, a decision which the Macrons are looking to appeal.
