French President Emmanuel Macron and his wife, Brigitte, have launched a defamation lawsuit in the United States against prominent social media personality Candace Owens.
The legal action, filed on Wednesday in Delaware Superior Court, accuses Owens of disseminating baseless and defamatory claims to millions of online followers.
The 218-page complaint alleges that Owens, through her YouTube and podcast series titled “Becoming Brigitte,” made a series of demonstrably false assertions. These include claims that Brigitte Macron was born male and that she and Emmanuel Macron are biologically related. Owens further suggested that Macron's rise to the presidency was orchestrated by a CIA mind-control program.
The Macrons are seeking a jury trial and unspecified punitive damages. In a statement issued through their legal team, they condemned the campaign of misinformation as a deliberate effort to inflict emotional distress and gain personal notoriety.
The complaint highlights a sustained online campaign that has contributed to international harassment and reputational harm. It notes that Owens amplified previously debunked rumours that began circulating in 2021, which have since appeared on other conservative platforms hosted by figures such as Tucker Carlson and Joe Rogan.
The filing states Owens systematically distorted details of the Macrons’ personal lives, transforming them into a narrative designed to provoke controversy and abuse. The document describes the result as “relentless bullying on a worldwide scale”.
The lawsuit portrays Owens as a provocateur who leverages misinformation under the guise of investigative journalism to build her brand. It criticizes her for rejecting calls to retract her claims, thus intensifying the damage.
A spokesperson for Owens responded by accusing the French president and his wife of attempting to suppress free speech, framing the legal action as a foreign attack on the First Amendment rights of an American citizen.
The statement claimed Owens had sought an interview with Brigitte Macron, which was declined, and characterized the lawsuit as an attempt to intimidate rather than engage.
Brigitte Macron has previously taken legal steps in France to counter similar gender-based misinformation. Two women were initially convicted in 2023 for spreading false claims that she was born a man named Jean-Michel Trogneux, her actual brother.
Although that ruling was overturned by a Paris appeals court, Brigitte recently appealed the decision to France’s Court of Cassation.
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