A long-running dispute tied to French First Lady Brigitte Macron has flared up again, this time over a public bet between Candace Owens and Piers Morgan. Owens says a recent French appeals court decision means Morgan should pay up.
Morgan says she is twisting what the court actually ruled. Candace Owens has repeatedly pushed an unproven claim that Brigitte Macron was born male. After the latest court move in France, Owens says she has been proven right.
The conspiracy claim says Brigitte Macron, 72, was born a man named Jean-Michel Trogneux. That name belongs to her older brother. The story gained traction in far-right circles in France around 2017, as Emmanuel Macron rose in national politics.
The rumor surged again in December 2021 after a four-hour YouTube video by two French women, Natacha Rey (who described herself as a journalist) and Amandine Roy (a spiritual medium who also used the name Delphine Jegousse).
The video drew hundreds of thousands of views before it was taken down. It accused the Macrons of hiding the truth through a major cover-up. Brigitte Macron and her brother later filed a defamation complaint.
In September 2024, a Paris court convicted Rey and Roy of libel. The court ordered them to pay €8,000 to Brigitte Macron and €5,000 to her brother.
Candace Owens Brings the Claim to a US Audience
That changed in July 2025. The Paris Court of Appeal overturned the convictions and cleared both women. The court said their statements were made in “good faith” and fell under freedom of expression. The judges also stressed that the ruling was about defamation rules, not whether the claim was true.
Brigitte Macron has appealed again, taking the case to France’s top court, the Cour de Cassation. That appeal is still pending.
The rumor spread more widely in the United States in early 2024, when Candace Owens, a conservative podcaster with a large audience, released multiple episodes focused on the theory.
Her series was titled “Becoming Brigitte.” Owens leaned on the work of Rey and Roy, along with what she called her own research and what she described as gaps in public records.
Owens said she would “stake my entire professional reputation” on the claim. She also called it “likely the biggest scandal in political history.”
Major fact-checkers, including Reuters and Snopes, have rejected the claim. They point to publicly available material such as childhood photos, birth announcements, and the fact that Brigitte Macron has three children from a prior marriage.
The Bet With Piers Morgan
The fight turned into a headline moment on Piers Morgan’s show, “Uncensored.” Morgan challenged Owens on air and said he would bet that Brigitte Macron is a woman. The amount grew over time, starting at $100,000, then rising to $150,000, and later to $300,000 across appearances.
Owens accepted and said she was “1000 percent” sure. Morgan said the story was baseless and fueled by attention and outrage. After the July 2025 appeals court ruling in France, Owens posted online and repeated on her podcast that she had won.
In a recent episode, she said she wouldn’t “let Piers Morgan off the hook.” She argued that the court decision cleared the women who promoted the claim, and that Morgan should now pay $300,000, either to charity or to her.
Morgan has rejected that reading of the decision. In interviews, he has said the French court did not validate the rumor. He has also pointed out that the judges focused on “good faith” and free speech protections, not proof of the allegation.
Morgan has continued to frame the bet around his view that Brigitte Macron is a woman, while also pointing to her three children.
More Lawsuits, More Fallout
The French appeal ruling landed at the same time the Macrons expanded their legal fight. In July 2025, Emmanuel and Brigitte Macron filed a 219-page defamation lawsuit against Owens in Delaware Superior Court, where her media companies are incorporated.
The filing accuses Owens of running a “campaign of global humiliation” for profit. It also points to merchandise tied to the rumor.
The complaint lays out material meant to rebut the allegation, including newspaper birth announcements from the time and family photos. Owens has said she plans to fight the case. She has framed it as an attack on free speech and has suggested more surprises are coming.
In a separate case, a Paris court in October 2025 tried ten people accused of cyber-harassment linked to similar claims about Brigitte Macron. Several defendants reportedly pointed to Owens’s content.
Why the Brigitte Story Keeps Spreading
The dispute shows how hard it is to stop misinformation once it takes off, especially when it jumps countries and languages. Researchers who track misinformation say the rumor survives because it fits neatly into conspiracy communities and culture-war content, even without solid evidence.
Brigitte Macron, a former teacher who met Emmanuel Macron when she taught drama at his school, has rarely addressed the rumors in public. She has focused on legal action instead. Emmanuel Macron has described the attacks as misogynistic and aimed at weakening him politically.
With the Cour de Cassation still reviewing the French appeal and the US defamation lawsuit moving forward, Owens keeps pressing her claims on air. The bet has become a stand-in for a wider political fight, and it remains unclear if Morgan will ever write a check.
Candace Owens treats the appeals court outcome as enough to claim victory. Critics warn that treating a procedural ruling as proof risks keeping the false claim alive. As 2025 ends, the story shows no real sign of going away.
