French President Macron Sues Candace Owens for Defamation (3)

French President Emmanuel Macron sued American right-wing podcaster Candace Owens for defamation Wednesday over her “relentless and unjustified smear campaign” against him and his wife, French first lady Brigitte Macron.

The 219-page lawsuit, filed by the Macrons in Delaware, assails Owens for her baseless conspiracy theories about them, particularly Brigitte, who was portrayed on the eight-part podcast “Becoming Brigitte” as a secret trans woman and a blood relative of her husband.

Owens made up the “grotesque narrative,” then exploited the attention to grow her “frenzied fan base,” according to the court complaint, which connects the case to her long history of peddling disinformation, including by minimizing the Holocaust.

The “campaign of global humiliation, turning their lives into fodder for profit-driven lies,” has led to “relentless bullying on a worldwide scale,” the suit says. “Every time the Macrons leave their home, they do so knowing that countless people have heard, and many believe, these vile fabrications. It is invasive, dehumanizing, and deeply unjust.”

Owens, who has also said President Macron is a CIA operative, linked her claims about the Macrons to her wider-ranging conspiracy theory that “the world is being run by a gang of Satanic pedophiles masquerading as Jewish people,” according to the legal filing.

She said through a spokesperson Wednesday that the lawsuit represented “a foreign government attacking the First Amendment rights of an American independent journalist.”

“Candace Owens is not shutting up,” the spokesperson said in a statement. “Candace repeatedly requested an interview with Brigitte Macron. Instead of offering a comment, Brigitte is resorting to trying to bully a reporter into submission. In France, politicians can bully journalists, but this is not France. It’s America.”

A spokesperson for Macron said Wednesday that he had filed the lawsuit as a private person, not in his official capacity. His attorneys said in a statement that they had sent multiple retraction demands to Owens, who responded by posting them online, mocking them, and using them to “double down” with additional public taunts.

“Owens disregarded all credible evidence disproving her claim in favor of platforming known conspiracy theorists and proven defamers,” the lawsuit says. “The Macrons are left with no choice but to seek relief through this court to set the record straight.”

Because winning a defamation case requires proving that the damaging statements in question were false—no matter how absurd—the lengthy legal filing addresses each of Owens’ conspiratorial claims in detail. It devotes significant space to Brigitte Macron’s biography, including childhood photos and a newspaper clipping of her birth announcement.

The 22-count complaint filed in Delaware’s Superior Court seeks damages against Owens and two of her companies, including punitive damages.

The Macrons are represented by Farnan LLP and Clare Locke LLP. Owens hasn’t yet made a court appearance.

The case is Macron v. Owens, Del. Super. Ct., No. N25C-07-194, complaint filed 7/23/25.

—With assistance from Samy Adghirni (Bloomberg News).