French President Emmanuel Macron and First Lady Brigitte Macron have filed a fresh defamation lawsuit against conservative commentator Candace Owens in Tennessee.
This comes after Delaware court limited jurisdiction in their earlier case over false claims about Brigitte Macron’s gender.
The Macrons contended that Owens ignored repeated opportunities to retract her statements even after receiving legal notices and documentary evidence that contradict her claims. The new complaint marks the latest step in a legal dispute that began in July 2025, when the French presidential couple sued Owens and her two media companies in Delaware, where the businesses are incorporated. The complaint spans more than 400 pages and details her prolonged campaign of falsehoods. The 73-year-old Brigitte Macron has also challenged allegations that she was born a man in French courts, according to Le Monde .
The original lawsuit accused Owens of publishing a series of “outlandish, defamatory, and far-fetched fictions” alleging that Brigitte Macron is a transgender woman and that the French president participated in a cover-up. Owens “continued to use her podcast to expand her lies about the Macrons, sell merchandise making fun of the Macrons, and collect donations based on her reporting on the Macrons, according to the filing. The allegations damaged the couple’s personal reputations and caused emotional distress with added unnecessary attention online, according to the filing.
A representative for the Macrons’ legal team confirmed the authenticity of the Tennessee filing after it appeared in legal databases on Monday, according to Politico .
