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Brigitte Macron has been forced to change her appearance and has seen her health “deteriorate” in response to baseless conspiracy theories that she is a man, her concerned daughter told court Tuesday at a trial for 10 suspects accused of spreading malicious rumors about the French first lady.
“She knows that her image could be taken and distorted,” Brigitte’s youngest daughter, Tiphaine Auzière, 41, said during the second day of proceedings while explaining how her mother is always careful about “her postures” and “her outfits” since the claims started circulating, French outlet Ouest France reported.
“She cannot ignore the horrors being said,” Auzière said, adding that the wife of President Emmanuel Macron “is constantly under attack” — and her grandchildren are now aware of the malicious rumor.
“It was important to be here today to express the prejudice. I wanted to report what her life has been like since she suffered this hatred,” said Auzière, the daughter of Brigitte, 72, and her first husband, André-Louis Auzière, whom she left for her former student Macron, 47, in 2006.
She spoke of a “change and deterioration in her health” in recent years in the wake of the conspiracy.
The 10 defendants — eight men and two women aged 41 to 65 — faced up to two years in prison if found guilty of spreading “numerous malicious comments” online about the first lady’s gender and sexuality.
The suspects also allegedly described the 25-year age gap between the first couple as “pedophilia” — as the president met his future wife when he was 15 years old.
All 10 — who include an IT expert, a teacher and a town councillor — deny the charges on grounds of humor and free speech.
The first lady is not expected to appear in court as part of the trial.
The Macrons started criminal proceedings two years ago in response to repeated claims online that she had been born Jean-Michel Trogneux, and underwent gender reassignment before taking part in a supposed conspiracy to seduce the future president.
In reality, Trogneux is the first lady’s reclusive older brother, whom Auzière claimed to have seen earlier this year.
“I saw my uncle a few months ago; he’s in great shape,” she said.
The latest cyberbullying trial comes just three months after the Macrons filed a defamation lawsuit in the US against conservative podcaster Candace Owens, who made similar claims about Brigitte being trans.
Several of the defendants shared posts by Owens online.
The Macrons plan to offer “scientific” evidence and photos proving Brigitte is not trans, according to the couple’s US lawyer.
