PARIS — French President Emmanuel Macron and his wife Brigitte plan to provide “scientific” evidence to prove that France’s first lady is not a transgender woman after suing far-right influencer Candace Owens for defamation in the United States.
Owens has repeatedly put forward transphobic allegations that Brigitte was assigned male at birth and had “groomed” a teenage Emmanuel Macron before transitioning to female. France’s first couple brought legal action against Owens this summer.
“We’re prepared to demonstrate fully both generically and specifically that what she’s saying about Brigitte Macron is false,” the Macrons’ American lawyer Tom Clare said on the BBC’s “Fame Under Fire” podcast.
Clare said during the trial there would be “expert testimony that will come out that will be scientific in nature.”
POLITICO has reached out to representatives for both Clare and Owens for comment. Owens previously accused the Macrons of using the suit to try to bully a reporter into submission.
Brigitte, a mother of three, met Emmanuel — 24 years her junior — while teaching at a high school in Amiens, where the future president was her student.
In August, the French president said he and his wife “had to” sue Owens in order to “have the truth respected,” despite the risk of triggering the so-called Streisand effect — drawing more attention to something by trying to suppress it.
Clare added that the president and his spouse would also testify and said the process is “incredibly intrusive for this family” but would ultimately demonstrate “how confident they are in their ability to prove it is false in an open forum.”
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