One of the women claimed that a prominent lawyer has evidence that Brigitte Macron underwent a sex change
A Paris court has imposed fines totaling €8,000 ($8,800) on two women, ordering them to compensate French President Emmanuel Macron’s wife for spreading claims that she was born male. The court’s ruling followed a defamation lawsuit filed by Brigitte Macron.
The rumors initially surfaced in 2021 when self-proclaimed “spiritual medium” Amandine Roy interviewed independent journalist Natacha Rey. During the interview, Rey alleged that Brigitte Macron was born a man named Jean-Michel Trogneux. Video clips of the interview spread online, leading to the hashtag #JeanMichelTrogneux gaining nationwide attention by December of that year.
Brigitte Macron, whose maiden name is Brigitte Marie-Claude Trogneux, initiated legal action against the two women in 2022, alleging defamation and invasion of privacy.
On Thursday, Roy and Rey received suspended fines of €500 each. The court also ordered them to pay €8,000 in compensation to Mrs. Macron and €5,000 to her brother, the actual Jean-Michel Trogneux.
During her interview with Roy, Rey asserted that she had spent three years investigating Brigitte Macron’s purported secret and that evidence of her gender transition was secured in “a sealed envelope deposited with a lawyer whose name is well known.” Rey claimed that this information would be made public if France implemented mandatory Covid-19 vaccination.
“The worst thing” about such “false information and fabricated scenarios,” President Emmanuel Macron told reporters last year, is that “people end up believing them.”
Emmanuel Macron has previously faced questions about his relationship with his wife, who is 24 years his senior and his former teacher. The French president rejected accusations of homosexuality while campaigning in 2017, describing them as “first and foremost unpleasant for Brigitte.”