Washington — French President Emmanuel Macron and his wife Brigitte Macron filed a defamation lawsuit against right-wing podcast host Candace Owens on Wednesday in response to claims she peddled that France’s first lady was born a man.
The 22-count complaint was filed in Delaware Superior Court and seeks an unspecified amount of damages from Owens, who broadcast an eight-part series spreading a host of allegations about the Macrons, including that Brigitte Macron was born a man, stole another person’s identity and transitioned to a woman.
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The Macrons said in the lawsuit that Owens rebuffed three separate demands for retractions, with the first coming in December and the final sent July 1, and continued to push “outlandish, defamatory, and far-fetched fictions” about the French president and first lady.
“These claims are demonstrably false, and Owens knew they were false when she published them,” the lawsuit states. “Yet, she published them anyway. And the reason is clear: it is not the pursuit of truth, but the pursuit of fame.”
Emmanuel Macron and Brigitte Macron said in a statement that they decided to file their lawsuit after Owens doubled down on the falsehoods despite their lawyers’ retraction requests.
“Ms. Owens’ campaign of defamation was plainly designed to harass and cause pain to us and our families and to garner attention and notoriety,” they said. “We gave her every opportunity to back away from these claims, but she refused. It is our earnest hope that this lawsuit will set the record straight and end this campaign of defamation once and for all.”
In response to the lawsuit, a spokesperson for Owens said: “Candace Owens is not shutting up. This is a foreign government attacking the First Amendment rights of an American independent journalist. Candace repeatedly requested an interview with Brigitte Macron. Instead of offering a comment, Brigitte is resorting to trying to bully a reporter into submission. In France, politicians can bully journalists, but this is not France. It’s America.”
On Wednesday afternoon, Owens went live on YouTube in response to the defamation lawsuit, calling it a public relations strategy, and she refused to back down from her claim against Brigitte Macron. She started her livestream with a clip from the movie “Gladiator” in which Russell Crowe’s character exclaimed “Are you not entertained?”
“This is why you’re here,” Owens told her audience. “This is how I feel right now. Me receiving my papers today.”
“If read through this … Brigitte actually and intentionally defames me throughout the filing. It says all these things are untrue, attributes quotations to me that I’ve never said,” she said as she went through parts of the filing.
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The lawsuit takes aim at Owens for promoting unfounded theories and spreading misinformation and said she aims to “inflame and attract attention through sensationalism and conspiracy theories.” It alleges that the podcaster published the eight-part series about the Macrons, called “Becoming Brigitte,” and related posts on X with reckless disregard for the truth.
“These lies have caused tremendous damage to the Macrons,” the suit states. Owens and her entities, it continues, have “subjected the Macrons to a campaign of global humiliation, turning their lives into fodder for profit-driven lies. Owens has dissected their appearance, their marriage, their friends, their family, and their personal history—twisting it all into a grotesque narrative designed to inflame and degrade. The result is relentless bullying on a worldwide scale.”
Macron has been president of France since 2017. He and Brigitte Macron married in 2007.
In addition to naming Owens as a defendant, the suit names her company, Candace Owens LLC, and the operator of her website, GeorgeTom, Inc.
The baseless claims targeting Brigitte Macron began around March 2021 and were picked up by Owens in March 2024, while she was working for The Daily Wire, a conservative media outlet co-founded by Ben Shapiro, according to the lawsuit. She was fired from the outlet later that month.
Following her termination, Owens launched her podcast, called “Candace,” in June 2024 and continued to push the allegations about Brigitte Macron.
The Macrons sent their first retraction demand to Owens in December 2024, after which she published the multi-part podcast series that the couple said raised “false and defamatory allegations” about Emmanuel and Brigitte Macron. The third and final demand for a retraction was sent earlier this month.
The Macrons allege in their suit that Owens published the defamatory statements knowing they were false, and said she acted with reckless disregard for the truth. The standard in defamation lawsuits brought by public figures is actual malice, which requires a plaintiff alleging defamation to show that the defendant knew the statement was false or acted with reckless disregard for its falsity in order to prevail.
France’s president and first lady said Owens had a financial motivation to continue pushing the claims about Brigitte Macron, as her podcast series was monetized and used to solicit contributions, promote subscriptions and raise her brand.
Tom Clare, who is representing the Macrons, said Owens’ conduct is a”clear-cut case of defamation.”
