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(from left) French President Emmanuel Macron with wife Brigitte; Conservative Commentator Candace Owens
Emmanuel Macron and his wife sought the information before suing the far-right media figure in Delaware
French President Emmanuel Macron and First Lady Brigitte Macron hired a prominent U.S. investigative firm to gather information on far-right podcaster Candace Owens before filing a defamation lawsuit against her in Delaware, according to reporting by the Financial Times.
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The 219-page complaint, filed in July in Delaware Superior Court, accuses Owens of leading a “campaign of global humiliation” through an eight-part YouTube series and social media posts promoting false and transphobic claims about Brigitte Macron. The allegations include that the French first lady is transgender, that she assumed her brother’s identity, and that the French president is the product of a CIA mind-control experiment. The lawsuit says Owens also claimed the couple are blood relatives.
Related: French President Macron sues Candace Owens for defamation over claims his wife is transgender
The FT reports that to prepare for the suit, the Macrons retained Nardello & Co., a U.S.-based firm led by former federal prosecutor Dan Nardello. Investigators reviewed Owens’s public statements, documented her ties to far-right figures in France, Britain, and the United States, and noted her appearances on Russian state-controlled media. The report also traced the conspiracy theory’s origins to a Spanish blog in 2017, its spread in France by 2021, and its promotion in 2023 by French far-right activist Xavier Poussard.
Related: Alex Jones’s lawyer mocks Candace Owens’s chances in Emmanuel Macron’s defamation lawsuit
Owens first referenced the rumor on her show in March 2024, later devoting a full interview to Poussard. Russian outlets heavily covered her series once it was released. Investigators also highlighted her participation in a 2019 nationalist conference in Paris alongside politician Marion Maréchal and her online interactions with Russian nationalist Alexander Dugin.
The Owens claims against Brigitte Macron are part of a pattern of online harassment known as “transvestigation,” in which activists target public figures with fabricated claims that they are secretly trans.
While Owens has dismissed the lawsuit, some of her allies have questioned her chances. Robert Barnes, a far-right attorney known for representing conspiracy theorist Alex Jones, wrote on X that “Owens told some of the dumbest, obvious lies one can tell” and has “0 percent chance of winning in court.”
Related: Candace Owens claims Donald Trump asked her to stop calling Emmanuel Macron’s wife transgender
Macron’s attorney, Thomas Clare, told the Financial Times the couple is willing to testify in Delaware.
No trial date has been set.
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