Wild Rumors Surrounding French First Lady Call For Legal Action

Brigitte Macron, the French first lady, is taking legal action in response to a conspiracy theory going around on the internet alleging that she is a transgender woman.

The rumors started on a right-wing website in September and have been shared by conspiracy theorists, claiming she was born male under the name Jean-Michel Trogneux. The moniker, which includes her maiden name, has trended on social media with tens of thousands of comments.

“She has decided to initiate proceedings, it is in progress,” the first lady’s lawyer, Jean Ennochi, said.

The accusations originated in a journal written by a woman named Natacha Rey, then later spread after being discussed on a YouTube broadcast featuring anti-vaxxers, skeptics of COVID-19, and right-wing activists.

“This ability of the most marginal and most toxic fringe to take space in the public debate is saddening,” Tristan Mendès France, a professor at Paris Diderot University who specializes in right-wing media, commented.

Adding the rumors were a part of a “radical conspiracy theory, be it American or French, that there is a degeneration of our elites and therefore a sexual degeneration.”

The 68-year-old1st lady is 24 years older than her husband, French President Emmanuel Macron, who is expected to run for a second term in the French presidential election in April. He would face competition from right-wing television personality Eric Zemmour.