French president Emmanuel Macron and his wife, Brigitte, plan to present scientific evidence to a US court case to prove that she was not born a man, the lawyer representing them has said.
The couple filed a defamation lawsuit in July against rightwing influencer Candace Owens. They allege that Owens has made continuous transphobic allegations towards Brigitte in an effort to boost her own social media profile and audience.
“We’re prepared to demonstrate fully both generically and specifically that what [Owens is] saying about Brigitte Macron is false,” the Macrons’ American lawyer Tom Clare told the BBC’s Fame Under Fire podcast.
Clare said there would be “expert testimony that will come out that will be scientific in nature” during the trial.
Clare said Brigitte had found Owens’ claims “incredibly upsetting” and that they were a “distraction” to the French president.
“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,” Clare said about Brigitte, a 72-year-old mother of three.
“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.”
Clare also said the Macrons would each testify and said the process is “incredibly intrusive for this family” but would ultimately demonstrate “how confident they are in their ability to prove it is false in an open forum.”
In March 2024, Owens claimed she would stake her “entire professional reputation” on the allegation that Brigitte was born male. Owens is a former commentator for conservative US outlet Daily Wire and has millions of followers on social media, to whom she has voiced repeated transphobic allegations towards Brigitte.
The claims that Brigitte was born male first went viral in France in 2021 by French bloggers Amandine Roy and Natacha Rey. The Macrons initially won a defamation case in France in 2024 against Roy and Rey, however the ruling was overturned on appeal in 2025, on the grounds of freedom of expression. The Macrons are appealing the decision.
In the American defamation case against Owens, the Macrons allege she “disregarded all credible evidence disproving her claim in favour of platforming known conspiracy theorists and proven defamers”.
Owens’ lawyers have responded to the Macrons’ defamation lawsuit with a motion to dismiss, arguing that the case should not have been filed in the state of Delaware, where Owens’ businesses are incorporated. They claim the case does not relate to Owens’ business and that defending the case in Delaware would cause “substantial financial and operational hardship”.