French President Emmanuel Macron angrily refuted long-standing conspiracy theories alleging that his 70-year-old wife Brigitte was born a man and is transgender, denouncing them as “false and fabricated.”
Macron, 47, expressed frustration during an International Women’s Day event in Paris, emphasizing the harm caused by such baseless speculation, particularly in their private lives.
Brigitte’s daughter, attorney Tiphaine Auzaine, 40, also addressed these hurtful rumours in a recent interview, expressing concern about the impact of such unfounded claims on society’s trust in information circulated on social networks.
The erroneous speculation reached a peak when two French women, Amandine Roy and Natacha Rey, were sued for defamation after alleging in a now-deleted YouTube video that Brigitte Macron was born a male named Jean-Michel Trogneux in 1953—a claim debunked as false, as Jean-Michel Trogneux is Brigitte’s brother’s name. Additionally, they falsely claimed that Brigitte’s first husband, André-Louis Auzière, did not exist.
Following legal proceedings, Roy was fined nearly $1,000, and Rey had to pay about $500 for their defamatory statements.
Emmanuel and Brigitte Macron’s relationship began when Brigitte, then 40, taught drama at a school where Emmanuel, then 15, was a student. Despite the French age of consent being 15, Brigitte was cautious about their relationship’s impact on her children.
The couple eventually married in 2007, with Emmanuel thanking Brigitte’s children for accepting them as a “not-quite-normal couple.” Brigitte reflected on their challenges during their early years together, emphasizing her commitment to ensuring her children’s well-being before fully embracing her life with Emmanuel.
