Credits: U.S. Department of State from United Sta / Wikimedia Commons — Public domain.
Whispered, passed along, amplified: the strange transphobic rumor targeting Brigitte Macron illustrates the insidious mechanisms of modern disinformation. A detailed, sharp-eyed breakdown of a case with unhinged overtones.
The Appeal Acquittal: Between Relief and Confusion
The false claim has gone viral as far as the United States. Brigitte Macron was supposedly, in fact, a transgender woman. That is what two women claimed while spreading this false rumor. The two defendants, Natacha Rey and Amandine Roy, were acquitted on Thursday, July 10, 2025, by the Paris Court of Appeals regarding the 18 counts challenged by the First Lady and her brother.
One passage about corruption of a minor fell under press law. However, the court also acquitted on the basis of good faith.
“I’ll see with my clients what we’re going to do, but obviously, we do not agree” with this ruling, insisted Me Jean Ennochi, Brigitte Macron’s lawyer. “Natacha Rey, hunted down, persecuted, convicted. But in the end, Natacha Rey acquitted,” Rey’s lawyer, Me François Danglehant, said in response.
This decision raises questions without calling justice itself into question. Where, now, should the line be drawn between freedom of expression and blatant misinformation?
Convicted at First Instance
In September 2024, Rey and Roy were found guilty and sentenced to a 500-euro suspended fine, as well as ordered to pay a total of 13,000 euros to Brigitte Macron and her brother, Jean-Michel Trogneux. At the heart of the trial is a more-than-four-hour video released in January 2022. It claims without evidence that the First Lady is actually her brother Jean-Michel, who became a woman.
Birth and Spread of a Persistent Rumor
The rumor was born in the shadows and quickly spread online after their arrival at the Élysée Palace. As early as 2021, the shaky but sensational theory took hold thanks to a long, muddled video posted on Roy’s YouTube channel. The grotesque claim rests on a rough mix of family trees, blurry photos, and unverifiable medical references.
However, despite its obvious absurdity, it spread at lightning speed. It was carried by communities hungry for scandal and fascinated by conspiracy theories. This phenomenon is not isolated. Several women in politics or public life have been victims of similar rumors. Among them are former U.S. First Lady Michelle Obama, former U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris, former New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern, and even American singer Lady Gaga or Sheila… All were targeted by campaigns aimed at discrediting them through transphobia.
The Central Role of Social Media and Media Relays
Marginal accounts and notorious influencers on X, YouTube, and Facebook seized on this theory. The rumor quickly moved beyond French conspiracy circles to reach American media close to the far right, notably amplified by Candace Owens, a prominent Trump-aligned figure. A book, Becoming Brigitte, by far-right journalist Xavier Poussard, further magnifies the scale of this disinformation across the Atlantic.
This spread reveals the precise mechanics of contemporary disinformation: an audience fascinated by extravagance and a growing tendency to challenge official reality.
Transphobia and Political Hostility: The Motivations Behind the Rumor
Why target Brigitte Macron specifically? Behind this insidious campaign lies clear political hostility toward the presidential couple, mixed with reactionary fantasies. These accusations, often aimed at powerful women, exploit social anxieties around gender. They also serve specific political agendas.
Here, transphobia becomes a political weapon: accusing the First Lady of concealing her identity reinforces prejudice and, by extension, weakens Emmanuel Macron.
The Main Players: Between Self-Proclamation and Convictions
Natacha Rey, an “autodidact independent journalist,” and Amandine Roy, a “medium,” suddenly found themselves thrust into the center of a national scandal. Their video quickly drew attention and triggered a fierce controversy that forced Brigitte Macron to respond publicly.
A Historical Tradition: From the Markovic Affair to Amanda Lear
Using rumors to discredit public figures is nothing new. The Markovic affair, which targeted Georges Pompidou in the 1960s, remains emblematic. The presidential couple was accused without evidence of taking part in libertine parties in order to weaken Pompidou politically.
In a different vein, Amanda Lear, an iconic singer and TV host of the 1970s through the 1990s, herself was the victim of a persistent rumor about her gender identity. However, unlike others, Lear chose to leverage that ambiguity for media purposes. Her carefully maintained mystery became her trademark. In Patrick Jeudy’s Arte documentary, Call Me Miss, released in 2022, Lear deliberately keeps things murky. Despite years of investigation, no one has ever been able to definitively solve the mystery. Lear, provocative and subtle, even ironically sang about this ambiguity in The Rumor, openly mocking the public obsession with her identity.
Disinformation, a Political Tool and Media Phenomenon
The Macron case underscores how much the digital space facilitates the spread of false information capable of disrupting public debate. Transphobia thus becomes a troubling and powerful ideological vector.
The dilemma remains: how far should the fight against disinformation go without compromising freedom of expression?
Transphobic Rumor, Symptom of a Toxic Climate
The case surrounding Brigitte Macron reveals the excesses of an era marked by distrust of elites. It also illustrates today’s information chaos. The line between reality and fantasy remains blurry. The First Lady joins the list of victims of viral campaigns. In these campaigns, gender becomes a pretext for hatred and exclusion.