Comment l’influenceuse complotiste Candace Owens a fait de l’infox sur Brigitte Macron un phénomène mondial
French President Emmanuel Macron and his wife Brigitte have filed a lawsuit against American influencer Candace Owens for spreading false claims about Brigitte's gender.
The legal action, filed in Delaware in July 2025, accuses Owens of propagating extravagant, defamatory and absurd narratives along with devastating lies about easily verifiable facts concerning the Macrons. The lawsuit spans 250 pages and represents an unprecedented judicial battle against the influencer who helped turn the conspiracy theory into a global phenomenon.
The conspiracy theory gained international traction through a collaboration between Poussard and Owens. Poussard, a French journalist, traveled to Nashville in January 2025 with what he described as a gold mine – the manuscript for his book Becoming Brigitte, which promotes the false claim that Brigitte Macron was born male.
Global Spread
The unlikely duo worked together to amplify the conspiracy. Poussard, described as an intellectual with thick plastic-framed glasses uncomfortable on camera, provided the detailed conspiracy theory in dense writing. Owens, a former Donald Trump supporter turned podcast host with massive YouTube following, provided the global platform and audience.
Owens suggested modeling the project after Becoming, Michelle Obama's best-selling memoir, for both the title and visual identity. Just three weeks after Poussard's arrival, the self-published book Becoming Brigitte was released, presented by Owens, who simultaneously released a series of eight YouTube videos that have now accumulated over 30 million views.
Legal Battle
Poussard refused to disclose exact sales figures but confirmed the book sold between 50,000 and 100,000 copies – a number he had not previously made public. The Macrons' lawsuit highlights the challenges faced by even the world's most powerful figures in combating misinformation on social media platforms, where audience attention generates profit and extreme theories flourish.
The conspiracy theory originated in France in 2018 before gaining broader audience through right-wing media channels across the Atlantic. The legal proceedings against Owens and related cases in France reveal how conspiracy theories can spread from the depths of the French internet to global YouTube channels, testing the limits of power in the social media era.
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