- French First Lady Brigitte Macron is set to take legal action over rumors she was born a man.
- Conspiracy theorists pushed disinformation that she was born under the name Jean-Michel Trogneux.
- The rumors were spread widely on Twitter, largely by far-right groups and the anti-vaxx movement.
French First Lady Brigitte Macron plans to take legal action over an online conspiracy theory that she is a transgender woman and was born a man.
Rumors about Macron were first published on a far-right website in September, The BBC reported.
The conspiracy falsely claims she was born Jean-Michael Trogneux. The hashtag #JeanMichelTrogneux began circulating on social media this month.
Several tweets speculated on a still image of what appears to show Macron, whose maiden name is Trogneux, standing with her legs apart during a visit to the White House. However, a video tweeted by French President Emmanuel Macron shows that the photo was taken while she was shifting her standing position.
—Emmanuel Macron (@EmmanuelMacron) April 24, 2018
Brigitte Macron intends to initiate legal proceedings and file a complaint against the instigators of the rumors, her staff told French paper Le Figaro.
The rumors against Macron, a 63-year-old ex-schoolteacher with three children and seven grandchildren from a former marriage, were primarily pushed by far-right groups, the anti-vaxx movement, and QAnon conspiracy theorists, The BBC reported.
The right-wing website from which the disinformation originated is called Faits ets Documents (translated to "Facts and Documents"), French news outlet CNews reported. Faits ets Documents published an article in September claiming that it conducted a three-year investigation into Brigitte Macron that was "supported by many experts," per CNews.
Macron isn't the first prominent woman in global politics to be targeted by false conspiracy theories surrounding their sex — former First Lady Michelle Obama was the subject of similar baseless rumors in 2016.
New Zealand's Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern was also accused in 2018 of hiding her identity as a transgender woman and faking a pregnancy.