A particularly bizarre strain of conspiracy theory holds that prominent female celebrities, including musicians, athletes, and political figures, are secretly transgender. In a Paris court on Monday, a French art dealer was among 10 people found guilty of online harassment for falsely claiming that France’s First Lady Brigitte Macron was born as a boy named Jean-Michel Trogneux, which is the name of her older brother.
The upset caused by public assertions about her gender led to a “deterioration of her health” and a “deterioration in her quality of life,” her daughter Tiphaine Auzière, a lawyer, told the court, according to the Guardian. Macron is also suing right-wing American podcaster Candace Owens for slander in US court for spreading these claims.
