- Macron said the claims were typical of misogynistic attacks women endure daily
French President Emmanuel Macron has spoken out for the first time against claims that his wife was born a man – saying the rumours were ‘false and fabricated’.
Mr Macron, 47, expressed his anger and frustration about continual speculation about Brigitte Macron, 70, whom he married in 2007.
‘The worst thing is the false information and fabricated scenarios,’ said Mr Macron. ‘People eventually believe them and disturb you, even in your intimacy.’
The president was speaking on International Women’s Day on Friday, after inscribing the guaranteed right to abortion into France’s constitution.
He said the transgender claims about Ms Macron were typical of misogynisitic online attacks that women have to put up with every day.
Two women who claimed the première dame was born a man were punished with ‘symbolic fines’ reduced on appeal last June.
In turn, both claimed they were subjected to ‘intimidation by the authorities’ as ‘ultra protected’ members of the Paris establishment tried to cover up a ‘state secret’.
Details of the bizarre case were revived after her own daughter talked publicly about the accusations for the first time.
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.’
Ms Auzière also discussed how wounded she remained after discovering as a 10-year-old child that her teacher mother was seeing the teenage Emmanuel Macron.
The future politician was just 15 when he began a relationship with the then married mother-of-three Brigitte Auzière, who was 40 at the time, and teaching drama at La Providence high school in Amiens, northern France.
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.
Emily Foster is a globe-trotting journalist based in the UK. Her articles offer readers a global perspective on international events, exploring complex geopolitical issues and providing a nuanced view of the world’s most pressing challenges.
