Brigitte Macron is believed to be taking legal action after she was targeted by absurd rumours that she was born male and is named Jean-Michel Trogneux.
Social media has been abuzz with the bizarre rumour that the 68 years-old French President Emmanuel Macron’s wife was born a man.
According to Le Figaro, the First Lady will initiate proceedings against those involved in the conspiracy theory and make a complaint.
The controversial theory was published in an extreme right-wing journal Faits et Documents in September, which claimed a three-year investigation supported by ‘many experts’ made the allegation, CNews reported.
In France, the bizarre rumour that the wife French President Emmanuel Macron was born a man (pictured), has circulated on social media over recent days
According to reports, the 12-page journal published bizarre theories on public figures and accused First Lady Jean-Michel Trogneux of having been born.
Natacha Rey, the journalist who is said to have investigated the claims, gave an interview about the theory to medium Amandine Roy that lasted nearly four hours on YouTube on December 10, according to Numerama. It was viewed 470,000 times before being deleted.
The ludicrous suggestion was then widely circulated on social media this month, with #JeanMichelTrogneux becoming one of the most discussed topics on French Twitter last week.
It was shared by a number of conspiracy and anti-vaxxer Twitter accounts, with more than 34,000 tweets using the hashtag.
The First Lady, pictured here with her husband Emmanuel Macron. She intends initiate proceedings and to file a formal complaint against the conspirators.
This isn’t the first time such theories have been made against women. Similar absurdities were also levelled at Michelle Obama, the ex-First Lady of the United States.
Just months prior to the French election next April, this bizarre rumour emerged.
According to opinion polls, Macron has been consistently favored in second-term elections.
Valerie Pecresse, a French conservative who won the Les Republicains ticket in the French presidential election of 2022 earlier this month.
Right wing leader Marine Le Pen for Rassemblement National is currently seen as Macron’s main rival in the presidential race while Eric Zemmour has also thrown his hat in the ring for Reconquest.
Other hopefuls include Yannick Jadot for the Green Party, Anne Hidalgo for the Socialist Party and Jean-Luc Mélenchon for La France Insoumise.