French President Emmanuel Macron and his wife, Brigitte, have filed a defamation lawsuit in the United States against right-wing commentator Candace Owens over what they describe as “verifiably false and devastating lies” about the French first lady.
The 218-page complaint, lodged on Wednesday in Delaware Superior Court, seeks a jury trial and unspecified punitive damages.
The legal action follows Owens’s publication of an eight-part podcast and YouTube series titled Becoming Brigitte, in which she alleges that Brigitte Macron was born male and had transitioned, stolen another person’s identity, and is engaged in an incestuous relationship with her husband.
Lawyers for the Macrons said in a statement that the lawsuit was filed after repeated requests for Owens to retract the claims were ignored. The couple said the allegations had caused them serious harm and were rooted in deliberate falsehoods.
