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Macrons allege 'relentless bullying on a worldwide scale'

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High legal standard to prove defamation

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Owens says lawsuit littered with inaccuracies

(Adds Candace Owens' comments on podcast, paragraphs 6-7)

By Jonathan Stempel and Michel Rose

July 23 (Reuters) - French President Emmanuel Macron and

his wife Brigitte filed a defamation lawsuit in the U.S. on

Wednesday against right-wing influencer and podcaster Candace

Owens, centered on her claim that France's first lady is male.

The Macrons said in a complaint filed in Delaware Superior

Court that Owens has waged a lie-filled "campaign of global

humiliation" to promote her podcast and expand her "frenzied"

fan base.

These lies included that Brigitte Macron, 72, was born under

the name Jean-Michel Trogneux, the actual name of her older

brother, the Macrons said.

"Owens has dissected their appearance, their marriage, their

friends, their family, and their personal history - twisting it

all into a grotesque narrative designed to inflame and degrade,"

the complaint said.

"The result," the complaint added, "is relentless bullying

on a worldwide scale."

In her podcast on Wednesday, Owens said, "This lawsuit is

littered with factual inaccuracies," and part of an "obvious and

desperate public relations strategy" to smear her character.

Owens also said she did not know a lawsuit was coming,

though lawyers for both sides had been communicating since

January.

A spokesperson for Owens called the lawsuit itself an effort

to bully her, after Brigitte Macron rejected Owens' repeated

requests for an interview.

"This is a foreign government attacking the First Amendment

rights of an American independent journalist," the spokesperson

said.

In a joint statement released by their lawyers, the Macrons

said they sued after Owens rejected three demands that she

retract defamatory statements.

"Ms. Owens's campaign of defamation was plainly designed to

harass and cause pain to us and our families and to garner

attention and notoriety," the Macrons said. "We gave her every

opportunity to back away from these claims, but she refused."

HIGH LEGAL STANDARD

Wednesday's lawsuit is a rare case of a world leader suing

for defamation.

U.S. President Donald Trump has also turned to the courts,

including in a $10 billion lawsuit accusing The Wall Street

Journal of defaming him by claiming he created a lewd birthday

greeting for disgraced late financier Jeffrey Epstein in 2003.

The Journal said it would defend against that case and had

full confidence in its reporting.

In December, meanwhile, Trump reached a $15 million

settlement with Walt Disney ( DIS )-owned ABC over an inaccurate

claim that a jury found him liable for rape, rather than sexual

assault, in a civil lawsuit.

To prevail in U.S. defamation cases, public figures must

show defendants engaged in "actual malice," a tough legal

standard requiring proof the defendants knew what they published

was false or had reckless disregard for its truth.

Owens has more than 6.9 million followers on X and more than

4.5 million YouTube subscribers.

TUCKER CARLSON, JOE ROGAN

The Macrons' lawsuit focuses on the eight-part podcast

"Becoming Brigitte," which has more than 2.3 million views on

YouTube, and X posts linked to it.

According to the Macrons, the series spread "verifiably

false and devastating lies," including that Brigitte Macron

stole another person's identity and transitioned to female, and

that the Macrons are blood relatives committing incest.

The complaint discusses circumstances under which the

Macrons met, when the now 47-year-old president was a high

school student and Brigitte was a teacher. It said their

relationship "remained within the bounds of the law."

According to the complaint, baseless speculation about

Brigitte Macron's gender began surfacing in 2021, and the topic

has been discussed on popular podcasts hosted by Tucker Carlson

and Joe Rogan, who have many conservative followers.

In September, Brigitte won a lawsuit in a French court

against two women, including a self-described medium, who

contributed to spreading rumors about her gender.

An appeals court overturned that decision this month, and

Brigitte Macron has appealed to France's highest court.

The case is Macron et al v Owens et al, Delaware Superior

Court, No. N25C-07-194.