The Brigitte Macron Rumor: The Lie About France’s First Lady That Spun Out of Control
This week, ten people are facing judges at the Paris Criminal Court.
They’re accused of cyberharassing Brigitte Macron, and of spreading the false claim that France’s First Lady was “born male,” under the name Jean-Michel Trogneux.
What began as an absurd online claim about Brigitte Macron’s identity exploded into one of France’s biggest misinformation storms.
The story jumped from fringe blogs to global platforms, drew in American influencers, and even slipped into a government database.
It’s a rumor so absurd that most ignored it at first. Four years later, it’s reached a courtroom in the heart of the capital.
The case has become a mirror of France in 2025: a country caught between free speech, online rage, and the search for truth.
How it all began
The story started on fringe blogs back in 2021. It claimed Brigitte Macron wasn’t who she said she was, using her brother’s name as fake “evidence.”
Within months, it spread through YouTube videos, Telegram channels, and X threads.
By the time fact-checkers debunked it, the damage was done.
What had begun as internet gossip became a political weapon – aimed as much at Emmanuel Macron as at his wife.
The QAnon connection
Journalist Thomas Huchon describes the case as a French mutation of the American QAnon movement – the conspiracy that imagines a secret global cabal controlling world leaders.
In that twisted narrative, Emmanuel Macron’s marriage to his former teacher became “proof” of elite corruption. The story fit perfectly into QAnon’s world of moral panic and digital witch-hunts.
And that’s how a rumor born in provincial gossip circles grew into a full-blown international campaign.
The American megaphone
Across the Atlantic, Candace Owens, a well-known pro-Trump influencer, seized on the story. She repeated it in viral videos, published a book about it, and turned outrage into revenue.
In July 2025, the Macrons filed a defamation lawsuit in the United States, accusing her of deliberate lies for profit.
For France, the move was unprecedented, the First Couple taking an American influencer to court over a rumor that began in Amiens.
The “Jean-Michel Macron” shock
Last year, during a routine login to France’s official tax website, Brigitte Macron discovered that her name had been changed to Jean-Michel Macron.
Investigators found it wasn’t a system glitch but a manual intrusion. Two suspects were later identified.
That single act blurred the line between online fiction and government reality. For many in France, it was the moment the hoax stopped being “just online.”
“A rumor built to destabilize France”
As the trial opens, journalist Thomas Huchon told RFI that the goal was never curiosity, it was destabilization.
According to him, the campaign served both ideology and geopolitics: weaken Macron’s image, mock French institutions, and turn gender-based hate into a viral export.
He calls it a “sexist and transphobic operation,” one of the biggest digital manipulations France has ever faced.
What’s at stake now
For Brigitte Macron, this is personal. For France, it’s existential. How do you defend a democracy when truth competes with algorithms?
The court won’t erase the lie, but it can draw a line, and force a reckoning over how far online attacks can go.
For anyone who follows France for its art, intellect, or ideals, this story says something deeper: that even in the country of Voltaire, reason itself can be hacked.