A Paris court has found ten people guilty of cyber-bullying Brigitte Macron, the wife of French President Emmanuel Macron, over a campaign of online harassment targeting her gender, sexuality and personal life.
The defendants—eight men and two women—were convicted of posting degrading and insulting remarks online, including false claims about the first lady’s gender identity and repeated attacks referencing the 24-year age difference between her and the president. The judge ruled that the group acted with a clear intention to cause harm.
Most of those convicted received suspended prison sentences of up to eight months. One defendant was immediately jailed after failing to appear in court, while several others were ordered to have their social media accounts suspended.
Two of the defendants, self-described independent journalist Natacha Rey and online fortune-teller Amandine Roy, had already been convicted in 2024 for slander after alleging that Brigitte Macron had never existed and that her brother, Jean-Michel Trogneux, had changed gender and assumed her identity. That conviction was later overturned on appeal, with judges ruling that claiming someone had changed gender did not necessarily constitute an attack on their honour. The Macrons have since taken that case to France’s highest court of appeal.
Reacting to Monday’s verdict, Brigitte Macron’s lawyer, Jean Ennochi, said the most important outcomes were the preventive measures imposed by the court, including awareness courses and the suspension of some of the perpetrators’ online accounts.
During the trial, Brigitte Macron’s daughter from a previous marriage, Tiphaine Auzière, testified about the impact of the harassment on her mother’s health and daily life. She said the first lady had become extremely cautious about her appearance and behaviour, knowing her image could be manipulated to fuel conspiracy theories. Auzière also highlighted the toll on her own children, who were reportedly mocked at school because of the rumours.
The ruling comes as a precursor to a potentially high-profile legal battle in the United States. The Macrons have filed a defamation lawsuit against right-wing influencer Candace Owens, accusing her of repeatedly promoting conspiracy theories about Brigitte Macron’s gender while ignoring evidence disproving the claims. Owens has publicly stated that she would stake her professional reputation on those assertions.
Initially advised to ignore online gossip to avoid amplifying it, the presidential couple changed strategy last year, concluding that the scale and persistence of the attacks had become too serious to overlook. They decided to pursue legal action, even at the risk of exposing aspects of their private lives in court.
The conspiracy theory alleging that Brigitte Macron is a transgender woman has circulated online since Emmanuel Macron’s first election in 2017. The couple, who met when Brigitte Macron was a teacher at his secondary school, married in 2007, when he was 29 and she was in her mid-50s.
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