Emmanuel Macron and his wife Brigitte have filed a new defamation lawsuit against far-right US podcaster Candace Owens over her claim that the French first lady is transgender.
The filing alleges that Owens has used a “false statement to promote her independent platform, gain notoriety, and make money”. It was submitted in a federal court in the southern state of Tennessee, where the media personality lives.
It comes as part of a sprawling legal case brought against Owens by the couple, who first filed a defamation lawsuit in July 2025 in Delaware where the podcaster’s businesses are based. The complaint alleged that Owens had carried out a “campaign of global humiliation”, including the lie that Brigitte was born as a man named Jean-Michel Trogneux, the name of her older brother.
A court in the state last month narrowed the case, saying it could proceed only against Owens’ two companies Candace Owens LLC and Georgetom Inc, and not her personally.
In a mocking statement, Owens said the Macrons “want justice over my Brigitte-Doll”, referring to a toy that Owens has placed in the background set where she films her YouTube series.
“The doll is a grotesque, alien-like figure reminiscent of ET that caricatures Mrs Macron’s body and Owens displays it on camera as a recurring prop to ridicule her appearance,” the 411-page complaint reads.
The complaint alleges that Owens has “continued to use her podcast to expand her lies about the Macrons, sell merchandise making fun of the Macrons, and collect donations based on her 'reporting' on the Macrons”. The multi-part series has cumulatively accrued tens of millions of views.
Owens thanked the judge involved in the Delaware ruling in a statement on social media, saying the case "represents one of the grossest, legal overreaches by a foreign government leader in human history — a sitting President's attempt to personally bankrupt a single podcaster from outside the nation in which he governs".
The Macrons noted that “there is nothing shameful or defamatory about being a man, being transgender, or being gay. Owens' statements are defamatory because they accuse the Macrons of lying to France and to the world, for decades, about who Mrs. Macron is – and of committing crimes to conceal that supposed lie."
