Right-winger Candace Owens promotes 'terrifying' theory that France's first lady is trans

Far-right commentator Candace Owens is claiming that France’s first lady, Brigitte Macron, is transgender — and to the transphobic Owens, that’s “terrifying” and a “scandal.”

For the record, President Emmanuel Macron has called this long-standing rumor “false information.” Last year, a French court fined two women who were making the same claim.

On the Monday episode of her podcast, Owens aired a story titled “Is France’s first lady a man?” She referred to an article published in 2021 by a right-wing French magazine, Faits et Documents, claiming that Brigitte Macron and her brother, Jean-Michel Trogneux, are the same person. Jean-Michel “lived as a man for 30 years, fathered five children, and then transitioned at the age of 30 to become Brigitte,” Owens said.

Sharing a video of her podcast on X, formerly Twitter, Owens wrote, “Stop everything and watch this! Not a joke or an exaggeration to say that barring political assassinations, this is likely the biggest scandal that has ever happened in politics in human history.”

In another post, she added, “After looking into this, I would stake my entire professional reputation on the fact that Brigitte Macron is in fact a man. Any journalist or publication that is trying to dismiss this plausibility is immediately identifiable as establishment. I have never seen anything like this in my life. The implications here are terrifying.”

Owens also alleged that the Macrons are being blackmailed to keep Brigitte’s true identity a secret, and the blackmail includes pressure for the president to back certain policies.

The rumor emerged again partly due to an interview that Tiphaine Auzaine, Brigitte’s daughter from an earlier marriage, gave to Paris Match last month. “I have concerns about the level of society when I hear what is circulating on social networks about my mother being a man,” Auzaine said.

The Macrons’ relationship has often drawn scrutiny because of the couple’s age difference. They met when Brigitte was 40 and a drama teacher, and Emmanuel was 15 and her student, Newsweek notes. Fifteen is the age of consent in France. They began their relationship the following year, and they married in 2007. He was 29 and she was 54 at the time of their marriage. He became France’s president 10 years later, making him the youngest person to hold the office.

In 2021, two Frenchwomen, Amandine Roy and Natacha Rey, posted a video to YouTube claiming that Brigitte Macron was actually her brother. She sued for defamation, and a French court fined them last year.

Emmanuel Macron addressed the rumors Friday at an International Women’s Day observance. “The worst thing is the false information and fabricated scenarios,” he said. “People eventually believe them and disturb you, even in your intimacy.” He does not appear to have spoken about the matter since Owens’s podcast.

There have been similar rumors about other prominent cisgender women, including former U.S. First Lady Michelle Obama.