France’s First Lady, Brigitte Macron, has taken her legal battle against two female journalists to France’s top court over a report accusing her of being a transgender woman.
The legal action against the journalists in the country’s highest appeals court came after a lower court dismissed the case.
Last week, the Paris appeals court overturned earlier convictions against the two women for spreading false claims, which went viral online, that the 72-year-old First Lady was born male.
Disinformation about her gender has circulated on social media for years, with her 24-year age difference from President Emmanuel Macron also attracting widespread comment.
Brigitte filed a libel complaint against the two women after they posted a YouTube video in December 2021, alleging she had once been a man named Jean-Michel Trogneux, who is, in fact, Brigitte’s brother.
In the video, defendant Amandine Roy, a self-proclaimed spiritual medium, interviewed Natacha Rey, a self-described independent journalist, for four hours on her YouTube channel.
Rey spoke about the “state lie” and “scam” she claimed to have uncovered, alleging that Trogneux had changed gender to become Brigitte and then married the future president.
The claim went viral, including among conspiracy theorists in the United States.
A lower court in September last year had ordered the two women to pay €8,000 in damages to Brigitte, and €5,000 to her brother.
Brigitte’s lawyer, Jean Ennochi, told Agence France-Presse on Sunday that her brother, too, is taking his case against the dismissal of the charges to the highest appeals court, the Court of Cassation.
