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The Independent Observer > Headlines > Brigitte Macron to sue over false claims she was born male

Brigitte Macron to sue over false claims she was born male

Brigitte Macron is set to take legal action over an internet conspiracy theory that she is a transgender woman and was born male.

The French first lady has been targeted on social media with the false claims, after they were published on a far-right website in September then circulated by conspiracy theorists.

The rumours claim she was born male under the name Jean-Michel Trogneux.

The name has trended on social media with tens of thousands of mentions.

A lawyer for Mrs Macron – who is the mother of three adult children from her first marriage – confirmed she is taking action.

“She has decided to initiate proceedings, it is in progress,” lawyer Jean Ennochi confirmed to the AFP news agency.

The lies about the 68-year-old have been spread by accounts opposed to her husband, President Emmanuel Macron, including those on the political far-right, anti-vaccine groups and from the QAnon conspiracy movement.

French media have traced the story to an article written on a far-right journal by a woman named Natacha Rey. It then found a wider audience after being discussed in a much-viewed YouTube broadcast with views shared online by an assortment of anti-vaxxers, Covid-sceptics and far-right activists, according to Libération newspaper.

BBC