BRIGITTE Macron reads every word of trolls’ online abuse claiming she was born male, her daughter told a French court today.
Tiphaine Auzière took to the stand as ten people went on trial yesterday for allegedly cyber-harassing the French first lady over bizarre gender claims.
Mrs Macron, 72, and her husband President Emmanuel Macron filed a defamation lawsuit in the summer to prove she is a biological woman.
A false claim amplified and repeated online that Brigitte was assigned male at birth.
The bizarre claim has long targeted the presidential couple, alongside criticism of their quarter-century age gap.
Eight men and two women, all aged between 41 and 60, are being tried in a Paris criminal court. They face up to two years in prison if found guilty.
Ms Auzière, herself a lawyer, told the court today: “It was important for me to be here today to express the harm.
“I wanted to express what her life has been like since she suffered this hatred. There has been a change and deterioration.
“My mother always has to be careful about how she dresses and behaves in public because of this fake news.
“She knows that her image could be taken and distorted. She’s constantly under attack. She can’t ignore all the horrors being said about her.’
Asked by a prosecuting lawyer if Ms Macron had seen all the messages being discussed at trial, Ms Auzière replied: “She read them all. It hurt her enough. She doesn’t want to see them again.”
Every single tweet that Ms Macron misses is “reported to her” by Élysée Palace aides, said Ms Auzière.
“There’s a feeling that it never stops. This whirlwind of online abuse has a growing impact on her day-to-day life and health.”
Ms Auzière, the youngest of three children born to Ms Macron and her first husband, said even her “seven grandchildren” had to be put up with the scandal.
“It’s something that affects her enormously,’ said Ms Auzière.
“I wouldn’t wish what she’s going through on anyone.”
The accused facing the trial allegedly made numerous “malicious” claims about the First Lady’s sexuality and gender.
Some even suggested her 24-year age difference with her husband was “paedophilia”, prosecutors said.
Yesterday, the court heard how Brigitte suffered “serious mental and physical decline” from the trolls who accused her of being a male paedophile.
She told investigators the rumour had greatly impacted her and her familyespecially her grandchildren, who were told their grandmother was a man.
The couple are planning to offer “scientific” evidence and photos proving that the first lady is not transgender, according to their US lawyer.
Experts reveal eye-watering pieces of evidence Brigitte Macron will reveal to prove she’s a woman
By Juliana Cruz Lima Foreign News Reporter
DR Emma Hilton, a developmental biologist at the University of Manchester, told The Sun the First Lady could technically offer at least five types of evidence.
CHILDBIRTH
The strongest evidence, Dr Hilton said, would be showing she has carried a child.
“If you see a baby coming out of someone, you’re going to say, ‘yes, OK, that’s a woman’,” she commented.
And photos of Brigitte Macron pregnant with her three children could be decisive.
HORMONE LEVELS
Doctors could check sex hormone levels – testosterone, estrogen, and progesterone – which differ in men and women.
Dr Hilton noted: “It’s something that’s been used for sports categories before.
“We use them to check the general sexual health of men and women in adulthood.”
MAKE MALE GENE
Scientists can run a genetic test for the specific gene that triggers male development.
“It’s called the ‘make male’ gene. It’s the single trigger in humans to say you are going to be male,” Dr Hilton said.
And if it’s absent, it means the person is female.
CHROMOSOME SCREENING
A simple screen could show whether Macron carries a Y chromosome – a marker of male sex.
This usually means taking a blood sample and looking for the presence of a Y chromosome, which is typically linked with male sex.
MENSTRUAL HISTORY
Doctors could also review menstrual history, meaning whether someone has ever had periods, when they began, and how regular they are.
Those on trial deny any wrongdoing, saying that Ms Macron was a public figure, and they had the right of free speech.
Among the defendants is conspiracy theorist Aurelien Poirson-Atlan, 41, a publicist known online as “Zoe Sagan”.
He told the court: “If I were married to a President of the Republic tomorrow, I would accept being criticised.”
Delphine Jegousse, who goes by the pseudonym Amandine Roy, alleged Mrs Macron had once been a man called Jean-Michel Trogneux – the name of her brother.
Roy also claimed that Brigitte’s first husband, André-Louis Auzière – Ms Auzière’s father – had never actually existed before his reported death in 2020, aged 68.
Also facing trial are an elected official, a gallery owner, a teacher, and even a computer scientist.
A spokesman for Paris prosecutors said the trial is focusing on “numerous malicious comments about Brigitte Macron’s gender and sexuality, as well as her age difference with her husband which have seen her likened to a paedophile”.
The presidential couple also filed a US defamation lawsuit in July against conservative podcaster Candace Owens, who produced a series titled “Becoming Brigitte”, claiming she was born a man.
Last March, Owens said she “would stake her entire professional reputation” on the claim that Brigitte was born male.
She even alleged Brigitte is in fact her brother, Jean-Michel Trogneux, and that her first husband never existed.
Hurt by the outlandish comments to her hundreds of thousands of viewers, both Brigitte and Emmanuel Macron took legal action.
But Owens hit back by saying she would demand a medical exam as part of any trial.
She announced: “We’re going to demand Brigitte sit down for an exam with an independent doctor.
“We’re coming for her medical records.”
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Her lawyers have insisted Owens has a right to say what she believes under free speech laws.
The rumours about Brigitte’s birth gender first took off in France after far-right magazine Faits et Documents printed them in 2021.