Prominent American conservative commentator Candace Owens has secured a significant legal win against French President Emmanuel Macron and First Lady Brigitte Macron after a Delaware judge dismissed her personally from their defamation lawsuit, ruling in favor of her challenge to the court’s jurisdiction over her.
Delaware Superior Court Judge Sheldon K. Rennie ruled on October 27 that the court lacked personal jurisdiction over Owens, who resides in Tennessee. The decision upheld her legal team’s challenge to the Macrons’ attempt to pursue claims against her individually in Delaware.
“I was just personally dismissed from the Macron lawsuit filed against me in Delaware,” Owens announced following the ruling.
The Macrons filed their lawsuit in July 2025 over statements Owens made in her eight-part Becoming Brigitte podcast series and on social media, where she repeatedly claimed that Brigitte is a transgender man who fraudulently assumed the role of first lady.
The couple’s complaint accused Owens of spreading defamatory allegations about Brigitte’s identity, alleged identity theft, family relationships and purported links to the CIA’s MKUltra program.
The French presidential couple alleged that Owens promoted the claims to attract publicity and generate revenue.
Owens has strongly challenged the lawsuit and accused the French president of attempting to financially ruin an American podcaster through legal action. She described the case as
“one of the grossest, legal overreaches by a foreign government leader in human history.”
She also disputed how the lawsuit had been portrayed publicly, maintaining that the claims against her concerned discussions of MKUltra and allegations involving Brigitte Macron’s sister. The original complaint also explicitly addressed her assertions about the French first lady’s sex and identity.
Although the ruling prevents the Macrons from pursuing their defamation claims against Owens personally in Delaware, they may continue their case against the podcaster’s businesses, Candace Owens LLC and Georgetom Inc., two Delaware-registered companies associated with the commentator.
