Latest news with #publicappearances
Daily Mail
17-07-2025
- Politics
- Daily Mail
EXCLUSIVE Insider reveals Brigitte Macron's secret turmoil over claims she was born a man - and the battle against trolls and conspiracy theorists that has driven her to despair
French first lady Brigitte Macron was always renowned for her decorum and grace at the many high profile public appearances which come with the role. . But lately she has made a number of missteps - being seen apparently ignoring and even slapping her President husband. Now MailOnline can reveal that her recent discomfort in the public eye is informed by a losing battle against a small army of trolls and conspiracy theorists which has driven her to despair. We have learned that online abuse of the 72-year-old wife of President Emmanuel Macron, 47, has 'intensified significantly' in recent days. The cue for this was a shock court ruling at which judges effectively sanctioned outlandish claims including that she was 'born a man' and that she had 'sexually abused' her future husband when he was a boy. Ms Macron had hoped that the defamation case would finally bring an end to her years of torment by online trolls - but instead it has unleashed a new wave of abuse. And Ms Macron is 'absolutely devastated' by last week's Paris Appeal Court ruling, sources have told us. That cast exonerated two of her biggest critics, Amandine Roy, a 53-year-old clairvoyant, and blogger Natacha Rey, 49. The case centred on a YouTube video posted by the pair in December 2021, making multiple poisonous claims about Ms Macron - which originally lead to the pair being found guilty of libel and fined. But all 18 challenges against their allegations have now been struck out, because they were 'made in good faith' and repeated claims that were already in the public domain. After the convictions were dismissed, supporters of Roy and Rey hailed a landmark legal victory. François Danglehant, one of the defendants' lawyers, said they had been 'hunted, persecuted and condemned' but were now free to express their opinions. In turn, counsel for Ms Macron are taking the case to the Court of Cassation – one that can quash an Appeal Court decision. 'The situation is now intolerable,' said a legal source involved in the case. 'Those attacking Madame Macron now think they can say what they like, without any consequences. 'It is a disgraceful turn of events, and one that commentators all over the world are taking full advantage of. 'The abuse has certainly intensified – it has increased since this judgement'. Candace Owens, the American media commentator and author, is among those who exclaimed 'We won! We won!' following Ms Macron's legal setback. She said she would 'stake my entire professional career on the fact that Brigitte Macron, the current First Lady of France, was born a man…' Ms Owens also claimed: 'Brigitte was never attacking the claim that she was born a man. She was being super petty and trying to get them on a technicality of defamation for misspeaking.' In fact, Appeal Court sources have denied that the annulling of the libel convictions means the Roy and Rey claims are true. The ruling – which Mail Online has studied in detail – simply states that the majority of their comments 'did not fall within the legal definition of defamation.' One out of 18 points may have been a 'technical libel', and that was the 'shameful claim' that Ms Macron abused her future husband when he was a boy, said the Appeal Court source. 'However, the court dismissed this libel claim too,' said the source. 'Because it found that the women were acting in good faith, by basing their opinions on well-known facts.' These included the fact that Emmanuel Macron was only 15 when he first grew close to the future Ms Macron, who was then his 40-year-old married teacher in their home town of Amiens, northern France. It was also noted that Emmanuel Macron's parents, both doctors, never reported the relationship to the authorities. This meant a crime could have taken place, but it was now outside the statute of limitations for prosecution. It was Natacha Rey who was the principal source of the claim that Brigitte Macron was born a boy. But the legal source said: 'The principal question is whether a complainant was dishonoured. In this case, there is nothing dishonourable about being transgender.' France's Freedom of the Press law of 1881 states that 'Any allegation that harms the honour or reputation of the person or entity to whom the fact is attributed is defamation.' The Court of Appeal judges said many of the Roy and Rey claims were 'too imprecise' or 'incoherent' to 'to determine a sufficiently precise accusation' that 'falls within the legal definition of defamation'. The Macron marriage has always been subjected to vicious speculation, because of its beginnings. It was in 1992 , when the future president was a schoolboy at La Providence high school Amiens, that he first developed deep affection for his drama teacher, the then Brigitte Auzière, who was married with three young children. Some claim the relationship became a dangerously irresponsible one – allegations both parties have always denied – but Ms Macron later admitted that being romantically linked 'with such a young boy was crippling,' especially in a Roman Catholic community. She spoke of the rumours her own boy and two girls – one a classmate of young Emmanuel – had to deal with, saying: 'You can imagine what they were hearing. But I didn't want to miss out on my life.' The couple finally wed in 2007, a decade before Mr Macron came from nowhere to win the French presidency as an independent candidate. Jean Ennochi, Ms Macron's lawyer, confirmed that his client would be 'appealing to the Court of Cassation' over the quashing of the libel convictions. The legal defeat is not the only torment to affect Ms Macron lately - MailOnline revealed last week that her older sister, to whom she was particularly close, had died.
Yahoo
23-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Kate Middleton ‘Recalibrating Her Entire Life' as Prince William Hides on His Birthday
Prince William and Princess Kate Middleton issued a new photo of William on Saturday, his 43rd birthday, but otherwise hid themselves away from public view as Kate 'recalibrat[es] her entire life' after a bruising week in which she cancelled a high-profile public appearance. Kate's team cited her need to find 'balance' as she recovers from cancer when she failed to appear at the iconic carriage ride at Royal Ascot races on Wednesday alongside the king. By pulling out of such a high-profile event just over an hour before she was due to appear, Kate sowed panic and confusion among royal staff, although press reports in the United Kingdom have largely played down the drama. Multiple sources told The Daily Beast they expected Kate to dramatically scale back her public appearances for the rest of the year and instead increase her online and digital footprint, remotely supporting causes close to her heart. The issuance of William's birthday photo, which showed him playing with the family's new puppies, while he was due to make no public appearance, seemed a textbook example of that. One well-connected source, a former royal staffer, told The Daily Beast: 'Kate is recalibrating her entire life, her entire work-life balance. Wednesday was a wake-up call, not a one-off. She has never found the public appearances, and the forensic attention and criticism that goes with them, at all easy to deal with, and it was just too much this week. 'The last few years have been horrific; the disgusting things that Harry said about her and William and her family, the relentless speculation about her and William, the queen's death, the king's diagnosis which had them both thinking they were going to have to take over and then her own cancer diagnosis and treatment. It's all taken its toll, and if she needs more time to recover, William will fight tooth and nail to see she is given it.' Another royal insider said, 'The important thing here is Kate's recovery. It was too much, unfortunately, for her to have three appearances in under a week, and the lesson has been learned. Kate will take it much easier for the rest of the year. I'd be surprised if you see her more than three times in the next three months.' William and Kate have both spoken openly about the challenges of the past year. Kate has said she has 'good days and bad days,' and William said, 'It's been dreadful. It's probably been the hardest year in my life.' Kate's March 2024 announcement that she had cancer came after the catastrophic failure to impose a news blackout on Kate's health. The information vacuum meant Kate's whereabouts became the subject of worldwide speculation. William might have hoped that the couple would now be able to put Kate's brush with cancer behind them, but on Wednesday, the world received a dramatic reminder of just how hard recovery from the disease can be on a both a physical and emotional level after Kate pulled out of the famous carriage procession, which would have seen her seated alongside the king, at Ascot racecourse Wednesday, with less than two hours notice. Her team later briefed the media that Kate was seeking to find the right 'balance' between a return to public life and recovering from cancer. Kate's last-minute change of plans sowed panic behind palace walls, a source told the Daily Beast this week, with an insider saying, 'Everyone was wandering around going, 'What is going on?' One minute she was going, and the next she wasn't. This is one of the biggest days of the year in the royal calendar; you don't just miss Ascot on a whim, so there was a real sense of panic. The chaotic nature of the announcement was eerily reminiscent of the dark days of last year. People were bewildered and worried.' Kate's office did not respond to The Daily Beast's requests for comment.
