Furious Emmanuel Macron finally speaks out over claims his wife Brigitte was born a MAN: French president discusses effect on the couple’s ‘intimacy’ – after his step-daughter re-introduced the rumour in an interview

French President Emmanuel Macron has spoken out for the first time against claims that his wife was born a man – saying the rumors were ‘false and fabricated’.

Macron, 47, expressed his anger and frustration over ongoing speculation about 70-year-old Brigitte Macron, whom he married in 2007.

“The worst is the false information and fabricated scenarios,” Macron said. “People end up believing them and disturbing you, even in your intimacy.”

The president spoke on International Women’s Day on Friday, after including the guaranteed right to abortion in the French constitution.

He said transgender claims about Ms Macron were typical of misogynistic online attacks that women face every day.

Two women who claimed that the premiere lady was born as a man were punished on appeal last June with a ‘symbolic fine’ that was reduced.

In turn, both claimed they were subjected to “intimidation by the authorities” as “ultra-protected” members of the Paris establishment tried to cover up a “state secret.”

Tiphaine Auzière, pictured in 2022, told Paris Match magazine: “I worry about the level of society when I hear what is circulating on social networks about the fact that my mother is a man.”

Details of the bizarre case were revived after her own daughter spoke publicly about the allegations for the first time.

Tiphaine Auzière, 40, told Paris Match magazine: “I worry about the level of society when I hear what is circulating on social networks about the fact that my mother is a man.”

Ms Auzière also discussed how wounded she was left after discovering as a 10-year-old child that her teacher mother was seeing teenage Emmanuel Macron.

The future politician was just 15 when he began a relationship with then-married mother-of-three Brigitte Auzière, who was then 40 and taught drama at La Providence secondary school in Amiens, northern France.

Those spreading the transgender rumors were Amandine Roy, a 52-year-old psychic, and Natacha Rey, 48, who described herself as a freelance journalist.

Both had appeared on a four-hour YouTube video in December 2021 claiming that Brigitte was actually born in 1953 as a boy named Jean-Michel Trogneux.

This is the name of Brigitte’s brother, and Mrs. Macron was called Brigitte Trogneux before her first marriage.

The defendants also claimed that Brigitte’s first husband, André-Louis Auzière, had never actually existed before his reported death in 2020, at the age of 68.

A judge in Lisieux, Normandy, initially fined the two women £1,700 each after they were both found guilty of defamation.

But after appeal, Roy was fined just £850, and Rey had £1,300 of her £1,700 fine suspended, meaning she only had to pay £400.

Witnesses called to court included Catherine and Jean-Louis Auzière, a childless couple living in Deauville, Normandy.

Jean-Louis Auzière was once Brigitte Macron’s uncle, when Brigitte was married to André-Louis Auzière.

Natacha Ray alleged that Jean-Louis Auzière had falsified administrative documents to conceal a “state secret”, namely that his wife had given birth to all three of Brigitte’s children, including Tiphaine Auzière.

But Jean-Louis Auzière told the court: ‘I worked with Brigitte until the late 1980s, I can confirm to you that she is not a man.’

The original complaint against Ray and Roy concerned invasion of privacy, violation of image rights and violation of personality rights, but the latest case concerned defamation.

The wife of French President (L) Brigitte Macron and French Secretary of State for Veterans and Memory Patricia Miralles attend a visit to the National Institute of the Invalides on February 29

French President Emmanuel Macron (R), French First Lady Brigitte Macron (L) and Emir of Qatar Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani (C) at the Elysee Palace in Paris on February 27, 2024

Frédéric Pichon, Rey’s lawyer, said her investigation into Ms Macron was conducted “in good faith” and in accordance with Article 10 of the European Court of Human Rights, which guarantees the right to freedom of expression.

He expressed outrage that his client had been “placed in police custody twice during the case” and said: “I am shocked by the disproportionate resources used by the authorities to silence her.”

All parties in the case accepted the “symbolic fines” imposed on appeal as a final settlement for what had caused enormous embarrassment to Mr and Mrs Macron.

The transphobic rumors about Mrs. Macron were picked up by the far right in 2022, while the president was campaigning for re-election.

Groups including the Yellow Vests (Gilets Jaunes) and those protesting Covid vaccines all used the claims to attack Macron.

The video produced by Rey and Roy has since been removed from YouTube.