French President Emmanuel Macron states that the legal action he and his spouse initiated against conservative US podcaster Candace Owens aims to safeguard his personal dignity.
For over a year, the 36-year-old Owens has promoted an outlandish notion to her four million YouTube followers suggesting that Macron’s 72-year-old partner Brigitte entered the world as a male.
Owens created a podcast titled Becoming Brigitte, where she explores this unfounded plot in depth. She asserts that Brigitte originally went by the name ‘Jean-Michel Trogneux.’
These allegations prompted Macron and his wife to pursue litigation in the United States against Owens this past July, alleging they endured significant harm to their reputation and incurred hefty expenses to set the facts straight.
In an interview with Paris Match, Macron mentioned being cautioned that suing Owens could trigger the ‘Streisand effect,’ amplifying focus on the falsehoods… Yet, the issue ballooned so massively in America that a response became essential.
‘It boils down to preserving accuracy. This is about protecting my reputation. It’s utter rubbish,’ he explained.
He further criticized the Trump government, rejecting assertions that his suit infringes on free expression rights.
Alluding to the Trump team’s choice to bar certain major news organizations, he remarked: ‘True free speech doesn’t involve blocking the restoration of facts. The ones preaching this alleged free speech are those excluding reporters from the White House. I reject that entirely.’
Rather, he contends, Owens was fully aware she spread misinformation to inflict harm, advancing a political agenda tied to extreme right-wing networks.
The wild speculation first emerged globally in 2021 from psychic Amandine Roy and Natacha Rey, who calls herself an ‘autodidact independent reporter outside traditional media circles’ and once employed at a minor aromatherapy company.
It gained traction in America, with prominent pro-Trump personalities like Tucker Carlson and Joe Rogan debating it.
Following the submission of the 22-charge complaint in Delaware, Owens has intensified her criticisms, labeling the defamation case as ‘silly’ and a ‘malicious PR stunt.’
She declared herself ‘completely ready to engage in this fight’ and vowed to contest it within Delaware’s courts.
The Macrons’ complaint alleges Owens consistently disregarded pleas to withdraw her untrue statements and persists in monetizing them.
A court date remains unscheduled.
This month, reports surfaced that attorneys for Brigitte and Emmanuel Macron engaged elite sleuths to uncover compromising details on Owens prior to the lawsuit.
Within the litigation framework, the pair enlisted detectives from Nardello & Co., a premier business intel agency, according to the Financial Times.
The firm’s dossier highlighted Owens’ associations with French ultraconservatives, plus her ties to anti-establishment leaders in the UK and US, including her digital exchanges with a Russian patriot.
It also detailed her evolution from proclaiming liberal views early on to embracing conservatism, alongside her former backing of Donald Trump, which she has since abandoned.
Per the publication, the detectives’ mission involved cataloging Owens’ openly stated opinions and sketching her history. Attorneys frequently commission such agencies to gather data on targets for their clients’ cases.
The Macrons’ attorney, Tom Clare, informed the FT that the choice to litigate stemmed from curiosity about why an American right-wing commentator fixated so intensely on them.