A Paris court has convicted ten individuals for cyberbullying Brigitte Macron, the first lady of France, by disseminating false claims about her gender and sexuality. The court’s decision, issued on Monday, follows a trial that revealed a pattern of online harassment, including allegations that Brigitte Macron was born a man. Sentences for the defendants range from mandatory cyberbullying awareness training to suspended prison sentences of up to eight months.
During the proceedings, the court highlighted “particularly degrading, insulting, and malicious” remarks made against Brigitte Macron, which included assertions about her alleged transgender identity and unfounded connections to criminal behavior. The defendants, consisting of eight men and two women aged 41 to 65, were found to have posted numerous harmful comments online. These comments falsely claimed that the wife of President Emmanuel Macron was born a man and suggested that the couple’s 24-year age difference implied pedophilia. Some of these posts garnered tens of thousands of views.
Brigitte Macron did not attend the two-day trial held in October. In a recent interview on TF1 national television, she expressed her motivation for pursuing legal action, stating that it was essential to “set an example” in the fight against harassment. Her daughter, Tiphaine Auzière, provided testimony regarding the negative impact of the harassment on her mother’s life, describing a “deterioration” in her well-being. Auzière remarked, “She cannot ignore the horrible things said about her,” emphasizing the broader effects on the family, including on the Macron grandchildren.
One of the defendants, Delphine Jegousse, 51, also known as Amandine Roy, played a significant role in circulating these rumors. She published a four-hour video on her YouTube channel in 2021 that contributed to the spread of misinformation. Another defendant, Aurélien Poirson-Atlan, 41, known as Zoé Sagan on social media, had his account suspended in 2024 after being named in multiple judicial investigations.
The group includes a mix of individuals, such as an elected official, a teacher, and a computer scientist. Several defendants claimed that their comments were intended as humor or satire and expressed confusion regarding the legal repercussions of their actions. This case arises amid a backdrop of persistent conspiracy theories that falsely allege that Brigitte Macron was born under the name Jean-Michel Trogneux, a name associated with her brother.
In addition to this legal action, the Macrons have initiated a defamation suit in the United States against conservative influencer Candace Owens. The couple, married since 2007, first met at a high school where Emmanuel Macron was a student and Brigitte Macron was his teacher. At that time, she was known as Brigitte Auzière and was a mother of three. Since becoming President of France in 2017, Emmanuel Macron, 48, and his wife have faced ongoing public scrutiny and harassment, prompting this legal response.
