French First Lady Brigitte Macron Appeals in Sex-Swap Case Over 2 Women's Claims She 'Used to Be a Man'
Brigitte Macron has filed an appeal in her gender conspiracy libel case.
July 15 2025, Published 5:50 p.m. ET
French President Emmanuel Macron's wife, Brigitte, has ramped up her legal fight against two women who claimed she was once a man online, RadarOnline.com can reveal.
Brigitte's lawyer, Jean Ennochi, announced an appeal was being filed to France's highest appeals court, the Court de Cassation, after a Paris appeals court overturned previous convictions against Amandine Roy and Natacha Rey in the libel case.
Libel Case
Brigitte has faced conspiracy theories about her gender since her husband took office in 2017.
Since Emmanuel took office in 2017, Brigitte has faced conspiracy theories about her gender and intense scrutiny over the 24 year age gap in her marriage.
In December 2021, Brigitte took swift action and filed a libel complaint against self-proclaimed spiritual medium Roy and Rey, a self-described independent journalist, over a YouTube video Roy posted to her account discussing the baseless gender swap conspiracy theory.
The defendants alleged in the video that the French president's wife used to be a man named Jean-Michel Trogneux, who is actually Brigitte's brother.
Convictions
The two women were ordered to pay Brigitte $9,400 and her brother $5,800 in September 2024.
During Roy's four hour interview with Rey, the so-called journalist claimed to have uncovered the meritless "state lie" and "scam" about Trogneux changing his name to Brigitte before marrying Emmanuel.
The wacky video quickly went viral ahead of France's 2022 presidential election – and was picked up by far-right conspiracy theorists as far away as the U.S.
Last September, a lower court found Roy and Rey guilty of slander and ordered the defendants to pay $9,400 in damages to Brigitte and $5,800 to her brother.
Brigitte's lawyer said her brother is also appealing the case to the Court de Cassation.
Ennochi said at the time: "The prejudice is massive, it exploded everywhere. It's not a victory, it's a normal application of the law."
While Brigitte appeared to score a legal victory, an appeals court overturned Roy and Rey's convictions on Thursday, July 10.
In addition to Brigitte appealing the shocking decision to the highest court, Ennochi said her brother would also be appealing the case to the Court de Cassation.
Conspiracy Theory Reaches U.S.
The couple sent Candace Owens a letter threatening legal action after she peddled the conspiracy theory on her show.
This isn't the first time Brigitte has taken a stand against internet personalities peddling the debunked theory.
As RadarOnline.com reported, Emmanuel and Brigitte sent a letter threatening legal action to right-wing influencer Candace Owens, who called Brigitte a "perverted" transgender woman and alleged she sexually assaulted the French president when he was 14 years old.
Owens shared the couple's letter on her show and declared she was willing to risk her "professional reputation" over the baseless accusations.
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Owens was among the far-right creators who fed into Roy and Rey's claims and shared their allegations several times on her show.
After sharing news of the letter, Owens read an excerpt that stated: "Mrs. Macron does not owe you proof that she is and always has been a woman… It is none of your business."
The rightwing influencer responded: "This has been going on for approximately ten years. If I’m the president and I’m dealing with a ten-year issue of people saying my wife has a penis… I sure as hell am not paying lawyers overseas to send legal threats and legal letters that say, 'I'm not going to answer your question."
