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Emmanuel Macron’s wife has been awarded €8,000 (£6,750) in damages after two women falsely accused her of being transgender.
Brigitte Macron, 71, became the subject of online conspiracy theories spread by the far-right after YouTubers Amandine Roy and Natacha Rey made the allegation in December 2021.
Roy, a self-proclaimed spiritual medium, interviewed Rey for hours in the video where they alleged the French president’s wife had once been a man.
The video - claiming to have uncovered a “state lie” - went viral just weeks before the 2022 French presidential election and even caught on in the US before the November midterm elections.
Ms Macron said in a 2022 interview that at first she had ignored the falsehoods, but eventually decided to tackle them head-on after they affected her parents and family.
The video claimed Ms Macron had been born as Jean-Michel Trogneux and had later changed her name and gender. Mr Trogneux, who is actually Ms Macron’s brother, participated in the trial.
He was also awarded €5,000 (£4,000) in damages. Emmanuel Macron addressed the false claims for the first time in March this year, telling reporters they had hurt him and impacted his private life.
The hashtag #JeanMichelTrogneux entered the top trends on Twitter in France just days after the video was posted.
It was used more than 66,000 times on Twitter. It was the most discussed topic on the social media platform for days and several users bought into the theory.
It comes as Ms Macron made her Netflix debut playing herself in the hit series Emily in Paris. The show’s star, Lily Collins, told Elle magazine the idea came to her and the programme creator Darren Star when they met the first lady at the Elysée Palace in December 2022.
It was not the first time a powerful female figure was hit by false claims of being transgender fuelled by internet conspiracy theories.
Michelle Obama, the former first lady of the US and Jacinda Ardern, the prime minister of New Zealand, have both been accused of being transgender.
