Brigitte Macron, the wife of the French president, has lodged an appeal with the Court of Cassation following the acquittal last Thursday by the Paris Court of Appeal of two women who spread a rumour online alleging that she is a transgender woman, her lawyer told French news agency AFP.
The Court of Cassation is France’s highest judicial authority for civil and criminal matters
Legal action after acquittal
Brigitte Macron’s brother has also filed an appeal, confirmed barrister Jean Ennochi, corroborating information reported by Franceinfo.
The false claim concerning Mrs Macron went viral, even reaching the United States.
The two defendants, Natacha Rey and Amandine Roy, were acquitted with respect to 18 articles challenged by Brigitte Macron and her brother.
Only one segment — referencing the corruption of a minor — fell within the scope of the French press law. However, the court also issued an acquittal on that point, this time citing good faith.
Trial opens against women spreading false transgender claims about Brigitte Macron
In the original trial last September, Rey and Roy were found guilty and handed a suspended fine of €500.
They were also ordered to pay a total of €8,000 in damages to Brigitte Macron and €5,000 to her brother, Jean-Michel Trogneux, both of whom were civil parties in the case.
Persistent online falsehood
At the heart of the matter is a falsehood that has resurfaced repeatedly on social media since Emmanuel Macron's first presidential election in 2017 — the claim that Brigitte Macron, née Trogneux, never existed and that her brother Jean-Michel had assumed her identity following gender reassignment.
The two women played a major role in amplifying the rumour in 2021. They did this through a four-hour-long "interview", in which Amandine Roy, a self-described psychic, questioned Natacha Rey — who identifies as a self-taught independent journalist — on her alleged "discovery" of this “deception”, “fraud”, and "state-sponsored lie", which they presented on Roy’s YouTube channel.
In the video, they shared photographs of Brigitte Macron and her family, speculated about surgeries she might have undergone, claimed she was not the biological mother of her three children, and disclosed personal details about her brother.
Two women guilty of false transgender claims against France's first lady
France’s legal response
The Court of Cassation will now examine whether the appeal court correctly interpreted and applied the law. It does not reassess the facts of the case but may quash or uphold the ruling on legal grounds.
The case highlights growing legal and political efforts in France to tackle the spread of disinformation online, particularly when it targets public figures.
The French government has in recent years taken a more assertive stance against digital misinformation, especially during election periods and in instances involving defamatory or transphobic content.
The false information has since spread internationally, most recently in the United States, where it has gone viral in far-right circles amid the ongoing presidential campaign.
Several female political figures worldwide have previously been targeted by transphobic disinformation, including former US First Lady Michelle Obama, former US Vice President Kamala Harris, and former New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern.
