French President Emmanuel Macron has finally addressed rumors that his wife, Brigitte Macron, is a biological male, calling the claims “false and fabricated.”
Macron expressed his disdain for such rumors during an appearance at an International Women’s Day event in Paris.
“The worst thing is the false information and fabricated scenarios,” Macron said.
“People eventually believe them and disturb you, even in your intimacy.”
Macrons’s daughter, Tiphaine Auzière, 40, told Paris Match magazine:
“I have concerns about the level of society when I hear what is circulating on social networks about my mother being a man,” Auzière stated.
“The confidence of what is affirmed and the credit given to what is proclaimed. Anyone can say anything about anyone, and it takes time to get it taken down.”
The Daily Mail reported:
Those spreading the transgender rumours were Amandine Roy, a 52-year-old clairvoyant, and Natacha Rey, 48, who styled herself as a freelance journalist.
Both had appeared on a four-hour YouTube video in December 2021 in which they claimed that Brigitte was in fact born as a baby boy called Jean-Michel Trogneux in 1953.
This is the name of Brigitte’s brother, and Ms Macron was called Brigitte Trogneux before her first marriage.
The defendants also claimed that Brigitte’s first husband, André-Louis Auzière, had never actually existed before his reported death in 2020, aged 68.
A judge sitting at Lisieux, in Normandy, originally fined the two women the equivalent of £1700 each, after finding them both guilty of libel.
But, following appeals, Roy was fined the equivalent of just £850, and Rey had £1300 of her £1700 fine suspended, meaning she had to pay just £400.
Witnesses called to court included Catherine and Jean-Louis Auzière, a childless couple living in Deauville, Normandy.
Jean-Louis Auzière was once Brigitte Macron’s uncle, when Brigitte was married to André-Louis Auzière.
Natacha Ray claimed that Jean-Louis Auzière had falsified administrative documents to hide a ‘state secret’ – namely that his wife had given birth to all of Brigitte’s three children, including Tiphaine Auzière.
But Jean-Louis Auzière told the court: ‘I worked with Brigitte until the end of the 1980s, I can confirm to you that she is not a man.’
The original complaint against Ray and Roy was for invasion of private life, violation of image rights and infringement of personality rights,’ but the final case was for defamation.
Frédéric Pichon, Rey’s defence barrister, said her investigation about Ms Macron had been ‘carried out in good faith’ and in line with Article 10 of the European Court of Human Rights, which guarantees the right to freedom of expression.
He expressed outrage that his client was ‘placed in police custody twice during the case’, saying: ‘I am shocked by the disproportionate means deployed by the authorities to silence her.’
All parties to the case accepted the ‘symbolic fines’ handed down on appeal as a final settlement to what had become a huge embarrassment to Mr and Mrs Macron.
The transphobic rumours about Mrs Macron were picked up by the far-Right in 2022, while the President was campaigning for re-election.
Groups including the Yellow Vests (Gilets Jaunes) and those protesting against Covid vaccines all used the claims to attack Mr Macron.
The video produced by Rey and Roy has since been removed from YouTube.
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