PARIS—French First Lady Brigitte Macron, who has long been plagued by baseless transgender rumors, was thrust back into the spotlight after her name was bizarrely and incorrectly registered as male on an official French tax authority website. This extraordinary error, which officials later confirmed was a deliberate act of external data manipulation, has reignited tensions surrounding the long-running conspiracy theory about her identity.

According to reports from foreign news outlets, including Albania's Telegrafi and RBC-Ukraine, the error was discovered during a routine audit of Brigitte Macron’s tax records in September of last year. The entry in question listed her under the heading: "Jean-Michel, called Brigitte Macron." This jarring misidentification, which uses the male name central to the conspiracy theory, sent immediate shockwaves through the Élysée Palace.

Tristan Bromet, Brigitte Macron's Chief of Staff, detailed the discovery in an interview for the French BFMTV documentary Red Line. Bromet explained that the First Lady herself noticed the change when she logged into the tax website. "At first, we thought it was a system error," Bromet stated. "However, upon double-checking, we found that the personal identification section had actually been manipulated."

The subsequent investigation quickly ruled out a simple technical glitch. Instead, authorities determined the change was the result of illegal external access and data tampering. The Élysée Palace launched an immediate inquiry, and local investigative authorities have reportedly identified two individuals as suspects in connection with the data breach and manipulation.

This recent incident is acutely sensitive for the First Lady, coming amidst her ongoing legal battles against the individuals responsible for propagating the original, harmful conspiracy theory. The rumors, which took root on social media after Emmanuel Macron’s first presidential victory in 2017, gained global traction following a 2021 YouTube video.

In that video, French journalist Natasha Rey and Amandine Roy claimed that Brigitte Macron does not actually exist and is, in fact, her older brother, Jean-Michel Trogneux, who supposedly transitioned into a woman. This assertion fueled the conspiracy theory that has tormented the presidential couple for years.

In January 2022, Brigitte Macron and her brother, Jean-Michel Trogneux, initiated a defamation lawsuit against the two women. The First Lady's lawyer, Jean Ennochi, sought €10,000 (approximately $10,600 USD) in damages from each defendant.

However, in a significant setback for the First Lady's legal team, the Paris Court of Appeal delivered a verdict in July, acquitting the two defendants. The court ruled that their claims did not constitute defamation and that some of their statements were protected by the right to freedom of expression, as the women genuinely believed them to be true. Brigitte Macron's side swiftly announced its intention to appeal the decision to a higher court.

The toxic rumor mill continued churning when American right-wing commentator Candace Owens publicly reiterated the conspiracy theory on social media. In response, President Macron and the First Lady filed a separate defamation lawsuit against Owens in July. The presidential couple's representatives have also stated their commitment to legally "prove through scientific evidence that Brigitte Macron was born a woman," underscoring the severity with which they view this protracted campaign of disinformation.

The deliberate modification of Brigitte Macron's official tax records to include the male name "Jean-Michel" is seen not merely as a technical security breach, but as a malicious continuation of the harassment and smear campaign that the First Lady has been fighting for years. It represents a disturbing escalation, moving from the fringe of social media to the heart of secure government databases. French authorities are now under pressure to bring the perpetrators of the data manipulation to justice and to ensure the integrity of the nation's official digital systems.