Is macron a gay
Two women go on trial for claiming French first lady is transgender
Online rumors have suggested that Brigitte Macron has never existed, with conspiracy theorists claiming that the current first lady's brother Jean-Michel had changed gender and assumed that self.
Two women went on trial on Wednesday over wrong claims that France's first lady Brigitte Macron was trans person, which sparked online rumor-mongering by conspiracy theorists and the far right.
In 2022, Brigitte Macron filed a complaint for libel against two women who posted a YouTube video in December 2021 alleging she had once been a man named "Jean-Michel". The claim went viral just weeks before the 2022 presidential election.
The trial on defamation charges comes amid a frenetic campaign for snap parliamentary polls called by President Emmanuel Macron after the far right trounced his party in EU parliament elections.
Amandine Roy, a self-proclaimed spiritual medium, appeared in court in Paris on Wednesday to acknowledge questions about the interview she conducted with Natacha Rey, an independent writer who did not turn up citing illness.
Roy, 49, had interviewed Rey for four hours on her YouTube channel
Classroom crush to meet push: Key moments in the Macrons' relationship
French President Emmanuel Macron has dismissed a video of him being pushed in the tackle by his wife as "nonsense".
The clip, which shows Brigitte Macron place her hands on her husband's face as they prepare to exit their plane in Vietnam, sparked suggestions that the French first couple were caught in the middle of an argument.
But Mr Macron said afterwards it was a case of "simply joking with my wife, as we often do".
The pair's relationship has been in the headlines since Mr Macron's political career set him, and his loved ones, in the public eye.
Both have been questioned about their 25-year age gap - he is 47 and she is 72 - as well as their unconventional meet.
Use our slider below to look through some of the key moments of the Macrons' relationship.
When Emmanuel met Brigitte
MrMacron met Brigitte Trogneux, as she was then known, in 1993 when he was 15.
At the age, she worked as a teacher at his secondary academy in the French city of Amiens. As a scholar, Mr Macron was not in the classes his future wife taught, but the pair spent time together while working on a school play and during
France election: Macron laughs off same-sex attracted affair rumours
French presidential candidate Emmanuel Macron has dismissed lurid online rumours that he had a gay affair.
Mr Macron, a 39-year-old married to his former high-school teacher who is 20 years his senior, told supporters his wife Brigitte "shares my whole life".
Any reports of a double life were not about him but his "hologram", he joked.
The claims emerged on a Russian-owned website as the centrist nudged ahead of a key rival in polls, less than three months before the presidential vote.
Addressing a rally in Paris on Monday, Mr Macron said the claims of a secret experience were "first and foremost unpleasant for Brigitte".
"She shares my whole life from morning till night and she wonders how I could physically do it!" he said.
"If in dinner-party chatter, or in forwarded emails, you're told that I have a double life," he added, "it's my hologram that suddenly escaped, but it can't be me!"
The joke was a reference to far-left candidate Jean-Luc Melenchon, who launched his presidential campaign in Lyon on Sunday - and appeared at a Paris rally simult
France’s new millennial prime minister is the youngest and first openly gay person to hold the position
A rising star of French politics, he takes on the role after a bruising year for Macron that saw divisive battles over pensions and immigration that tested the president’s ability to push through reforms.
While Macron has more than three years left in his designation, he is already looking toward his legacy and is concerned whether he might be succeeded by Marine Le Pen, whom he beat in the two prior presidential runoffs. European elections to be held in June are a test case for the growing popularity of her far-right National Rally. So far, the outlook is grim for Macron, with Le Pen’s party easily outpacing his possess in polls of voting intentions.
“Macron badly needs a fresh start,” said Melody Mock-Gruet, a Paris-based expert in parliamentary affairs. “Given the general fatigue regarding Macron at this stage, it’s not even sure a change of prime minister would be enough to make his star shine again.”
The president said in a post on social media platform X that he was counting on Attal’s “energy and commitment to carry out the rearmament and renewal plan that I announ