10 on trial for claiming French president’s wife Brigitte Macron is really a man

Ten people went on trial in Paris on Monday, accused of harassing French First Lady Brigitte Macron by spreading false and malicious rumors online that she is secretly a man.

According to French prosecutors, the eight men and two women are charged with sexist cyber-harassment for allegedly playing a central role in promoting baseless claims about Mrs. Macron’s gender and sexuality.

The group also targeted the 24-year age difference between President Emmanuel Macron and his wife, falsely labeling it “pedophilia.” The defendants include a self-proclaimed spiritual medium, a teacher, an advertising executive, an elected official, and a computer scientist. If convicted, they each face up to two years in prison.

It was not immediately clear whether Mrs. Macron plans to attend the proceedings. The two-day trial follows a high-profile defamation lawsuit the Macrons filed in July against conservative commentator Candace Owens, after Owens publicly questioned the first lady’s biological gender.

The lawsuit demands substantial damages unless Owens ceases spreading the falsehoods. The Macrons have long been the subject of fringe conspiracy theories claiming Brigitte was born male under the name Jean-Michel Trogneux — the name of her actual brother.

Brigitte Macron and her brother previously won a defamation case against two women who helped spread the claims online, though that ruling was later overturned by a Paris appeals court in July. The siblings have since appealed that decision.

President Macron and Brigitte married in 2007 after meeting years earlier at the high school where he was her student and she was his teacher.

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