DISINFO: Brigitte Macron used to be a man
SUMMARY
The French first lady Brigitte Macron was, until the age of 30, a man and a father of five.
RESPONSE
This absurd claim advances what is now a recurrent pro-Kremlin disinformation narrative regarding the identity of the French first lady.
This disinformation illustrates a couple of noteworthy aspects: first, the degree to which such absurd claims are used to pollute the public space and erode the notion of true and false. Second, the use of conspiracies to appeal to the lowest curiosity.
The claim was originally amplified by far-right social media users in 2021, in the run-up to the 2022 French presidential election. It was debunked by a French outlet that same year.
See here for further debunking by The Insider (in Russian). See similar cases including According to a researcher Brigitte Macron was born a man and French first lady, Brigitte Macron, doesn’t exist.