French President's wife Brigitte Macron is suing over a conspiracy theory that she was born a man

France's first lady Brigitte Macron is preparing a lawsuit over rumors that she is a transgender woman, her lawyer Jean Ennochi said. It was not specified who she plans to sue.

A conspiracy theory that Brigitte Macron was born a man named Jean-Michel Trogneux has been circulating online, BBC News reports. The first rumors of this appeared in September on a far-right website in an article written by a certain Natacha Rey.

Conspiracy theorists, anti-vaxxers and far-right activists then discussed the theory on YouTube, after which it began to spread across social media, mostly from accounts of opponents of French President Emmanuel Macron, including supporters of the QAnon conspiracy movement.

Brigitte Macron, 68, has been married to Emmanuel Macron since 2007. She has three adult children from a previous marriage.