Emmanuel Macron and his wife Brigitte plan to sue US influencer Candace Owens. Image source: Reuters / Chris J. Ratcliffe.

Emmanuel Macron and his wife, Brigitte, have filed a defamation lawsuit against a right-wing US podcaster who claimed the spouse of the French president used to be a man.

The 218-page complaint against Candace Owens, who has millions of followers on X and YouTube, has been filed by the Macrons in Delaware Superior Court and seeks a jury trial and unspecified punitive damages.

In a statement released by their lawyer, the Macrons said they filed the lawsuit after Ms Owens repeatedly ignored requests to retract false and defamatory statements made on an eight-part YouTube and podcast series called Becoming Brigitte.

"Owens' campaign of defamation was plainly designed to harass and cause pain to us and our families and to garner attention and notoriety," they said.

"We gave her every opportunity to back away from these claims, but she refused.

"It is our earnest hope that this lawsuit will set the record straight and end this campaign of defamation once and for all."

Candace Owens is a prominent right-wing American commentator. Image source: Reuters / Jim Urquhart.

The suit accuses Ms Owens of using her popular podcast to spread "verifiably false and devastating lies" about the Macrons, including that Brigitte Macron was born a man, that they are blood relatives and that Mr Macron was chosen to be France's president as part of a CIA-operated mind control program.

"If ever there was a clear-cut case of defamation, this is it," Tom Clare, a lawyer for the Macrons, said in a statement.

"Owens both promoted and expanded on those falsehoods and invented new ones, all designed to cause maximum harm to the Macrons and maximise attention and financial gain for herself."

Brigitte Macron, 72, has also taken to the courts in France to combat claims she was born a man.

Two women were convicted in September of last year of spreading false claims after they posted a YouTube video in December 2021 alleging that Brigitte Macron had once been a man named Jean-Michel Trogneux — who is actually her brother.

The ruling was overturned by a Paris appeals court and Ms Macron appealed to the highest appeals court, the Court de Cassation, earlier this month.

Read more: Tech brand sleep aid puts health at risk in new lawsuit

 

[Veggiepatch]

The slag known as "Candace Owens" should look in her own mirror so she can turn into stone - Medusa style.

How she is married and HAS four children is beyond belief. Immaculate conception?

And the have the ceremony take place in the "Trump Winery" speaks volumes of this lizard lipped gargoyle.

 

[Wombat2u2004]

Don't worry about the Democrats.

Trump has shown how to destroy oneself.

True dat

 

[Miss Chris]

Realy is this any of our business, if he is happy with his spouse, so be it! If it is true what a sad situatiuon that they had to lie about gender issues. I have to agree with SSCEderberry, there is a cloud over how the relationship began. She was his school teacher he was 15yrs she was 39 yrs ( 26 yrs his senior) and was married, when the relationship began. Today this would cause a major scandle (it`s illegal) and barely gets a mention.

And these days there is another name for that isn’t there……! Or does France forgive this kind of relationship….

 

[Sherril54]

i have a 19 year difference which has been for 39 years. illegal, go to hell.

Yes, but they became involved while he was at school, she was his teacher and he was a school boy, totally different to your experience.

 

[Sherril54]

Sherril54 was referring to the fact he was a 15 year old schoolboy and she was his teacher! 26 years older.
The age difference is not a problem, as you have proved, but picking up school kids when you have authority over them is!

Authority and duty of care, is seems some people are exempt from scrutiny and others are jailed. Just because she is female does not change the seriousness of the behaviour.

 

[Sherril54]

And these days there is another name for that isn’t there……! Or does France forgive this kind of relationship….

Yes the word starts with "P"

 

[Miss Chris]

Yes the word starts with "P"

I mean it’s all water under the bridge in this case and the fact that they’ve stayed together all this time and weathered any ‘unpleasantness’ about their relationship proves that they were really committed to each other……..Now, if an older teacher had any kind of sexual relationship with a much younger pupil, there’d be such an uproar about it, it would be classed as abuse, and the teacher would be jailed …..having said that, I don’t think Macron would have become the President of France without the woman behind the man….

 

[Reet]

What a nasty-minded reporter she must be.