Is Brigitte Macron transgender? France's First Lady to sue over vicious and unfounded rumor
Brigitte Macron, the wife of French President Emmanuel Macron, prepares to file a lawsuit after false information circulating on social media stating that Brigitte is a transgender woman whose birth name was Jean-Michel Trogneux. The bogus claims that a huge conspiracy was designed to hide the change in civil status. Many believe that Macron is preparing to fight for re-election in April, and the assaults on Brigitte coincide with that.
“She has decided to initiate proceedings, it is in progress,” Brigitte's lawyer, Jean Ennochi, told the press. The rumors are said to have started on Facebook in March 2021 with a user named "Natacha Rey," before spreading in October after a media source reported on the supposed "mystery of Brigette Macron." The revelation was quickly circulated by conspiracy theorists, and rumors that France's first lady was a transgender woman spread like wildfire on numerous social media sites. On November 1, the hashtag #JeanMichelTrogneux was first used on Twitter. The hashtag has received over 174,000 likes and 68,300 retweets so far. Brigitte is now planning to bring a lawsuit over the misinformation.
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In the past, the pair has faced allegations about their relationship. Brigitte has been the subject of trolls on several occasions. She was a 40-year-old theatre class instructor when the president met her. He was 15 years old then. The couple was chastised for their 25-year age gap after French President Emmanuel Macron was elected in 2017. During his presidential campaign in 2017, Emmanuel Macron also had to refute rumors of him being homosexual.
Macron has not yet stated that he would run for a second term, although it is largely assumed that he will. Valérie Pécresse, a candidate for the conventional right-wing Republicans, and Eric Zemmour, a French TV personality and novelist, who aims to represent the far-right, are among his opponents. The assaults against Macron are reminiscent of conspiracy theories popular among the American extreme right.
Michelle Obama, the wife of former US President Barack Obama, was frequently accused of being a transgender woman by conspiracy theorists such as talk show host Alex Jones throughout her husband's tenure in office. In 2018, Jacinda Ardern, the Prime Minister of New Zealand, was also accused of concealing her identity as a transgender woman and faking a pregnancy.