‘Your Grandmother Is a Man’: Brigitte Macron’s Daughter Testifies About Impact of False Gender Claims

The daughter of first lady Brigitte Macron of France testified in a Paris court Tuesday that rumors about her mother’s gender identity have severely damaged her health and ability to live normally.Tiphaine Auzière, 41, appeared as a witness on the second day of a cyberbullying trial involving 10 defendants accused of posting or amplifying false social media claims that the 72-year-old first lady was born male.The defendants — eight men and two women ranging in age from 41 to 60 — represent a cross-section of French society, and include an elected official, a teacher, and a computer scientist. If convicted, they face up to two years in prison.Ms. Auzière described what she characterized as a “massive cyberbullying campaign” that has made it “impossible” for her mother to lead a normal life.“The consequence is now that she systematically has to pay attention to what she wears, how she holds herself, no matter what she’s doing in her daily life, because she knows that her image can be distorted to serve these attacks,” Ms. Auzière told the court. The eldest of three children from Ms. Macron’s first marriage, Ms. Auzière testified that the ordeal has caused a “deterioration” in her mother’s health and quality of life. She added that the false rumors have also affected Ms. Macron’s children and grandchildren, who “hear things at school such as, ‘Your grandmother is a man.'” She added: “I don’t know how to make it stop.”The trial follows a complaint Ms. Macron filed in August 2024, leading to arrests in December 2024 and February of this year. All defendants have pleaded not guilty.During the trial’s opening day, most defendants sought to minimize their culpability, claiming they had small social media followings or that their posts were meant as satire.“It’s a joke, it’s funny,” said a 53-year-old French financier, Jérôme Claverie. “Do you need a certificate or diploma to make jokes in France?”Others framed the case as a threat to free expression. “Today you can send people to court for a few tweets,” a 49-year-old tech worker, Jérôme Amiot, said. “It’s scary.”The French first lady has been the target of conspiracy theories about her gender and sexuality, including claims that she was born under her brother’s name, Jean-Michel Trogneux, before assuming a new identity as a woman. The theories have circulated widely despite being thoroughly debunked.The Paris trial represents only one front in the Macrons’ legal campaign against such misinformation. In July, the couple filed a lawsuit in Delaware against American political commentator Candace Owens, alleging she published “outlandish, defamatory, and far-fetched fictions” about them “to promote her independent platform, gain notoriety, and make money.”The lawsuit claims that Ms. Owens retaliated against the couple after they sent her a retraction demand by posting an eight-part series about the couple on YouTube that contained additional “false and devastating lies about the Macrons.” The series, “Becoming Brigitte,” has racked up more than 2.3 million views and includes theories about the Macrons being blood relatives — and thus being involved in an incestuous relationship — and claims that President Emmanuel Macron was chosen to be president as part of a CIA “mind-control program.”The Delaware lawsuit marks a rare instance of a sitting world leader taking legal action against an online influencer in the United States. The Macrons’ attorney, Thomas Clare, said the couple is prepared to travel to Delaware to testify in person.

‘Your Grandmother Is a Man’: Brigitte Macron’s Daughter Testifies About Impact of False Gender Claims

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