“I don’t wish on anyone in this life what she is suffering.” For the first time, Brigitte Macron’s youngest daughter has spoken publicly about the ordeal that her mother has been suffering for years. He did so this Tuesday at the Paris Court, where 10 people are being tried for sexual cyberharassment against the first lady of France. The statement by Tiphaine Auzière It was the most anticipated thing on this second day of the trial and dozens of journalists gathered in front of the courtroom who did not want to miss the image of the day.
Tiphaine, 41 years old and daughter of Brigitte’s first marriage, has reported before the judge that “not a week goes by without someone talking to Brigitte Macron about these theories.” “She can’t ignore all the horrors people hear about her in her life. [… ] “What is extremely difficult are the repercussions for his family, especially his grandchildren,” he added.
The little Auzière testified at the request of one of her mother’s lawyers to explain the psychological and physical “prejudice” that Brigitte Macron has suffered after years of harassment and conspiracy theories about their gender identity. Some theories that began on a YouTube channel of a famous French psychic, who now sits in the dock, and that ended up crossing the screen and the country’s borders.
Brigitte’s daughter has pointed out that, since then, his mother is forced to be careful with his clothing, his posture and any aspect of his daily life “because he knows that his image can be distorted.” Regarding Brigitte’s state of health, Tiphaine has shown some concern in front of the court: “I started to notice the deterioration of her living conditions a few years ago, between 2021 and 2022, and I think I underestimated it at first.” “My mother has developed anxiety in relation to her grandchildren because of everything they hear about their grandmother,” she elaborated before adding that “she cannot abstract herself from all the horrors that are spoken about her, not even for a single second.”
Persecutions, identity sabotage in public records and even meet-ups where thousands of people were encouraged to go “door to door in Amiens”, a city in northern France where Emmanuel Macron’s wife is from, to “clarify the Brigitte matter.” For some time now, the ‘brigitologists’, as her harassers call themselves, ceased to be a small group of people who promote bizarre theories about the identity of the first lady. Now, “the matter has gone too far,” denounce the lawyers of the Macron family, supported by justice, which already in 2024 saw signs of harassment y harassment.
This is not the first time that the first lady has put her harassers on the spot. Some of those who are accused of cyberbullying today already have been previously convicted. The medium in charge of spreading the hoax was convicted of defamation a year ago. A sentence that forced him to pay several thousand euros to the first lady and her brother in compensation. damages. Months later it was acquitted on appeal which has in turn been appealed by the Macron family and which is currently in the hands of justice.
“Bad taste jokes”
The 10 accused of sexual cyberbullyingwith a varied profile, defend their actions based on “freedom of expression.” Among the profile of the accused is a deputy mayor from a small town in Saône-et-Loire. During his appearance this Tuesday in front of the judge, he did not consider “that it was harassment” and rather referred to “teasing“, “gossip” and included “bad taste jokes“.
This statement has even surprised the president of the court, who has not hesitated to ask him about the contradiction between his elected position and the values he represents, and the fight against harassment: “You are an elected representative of the Republic. Don’t you think that there is a kind of dissonance between the values of the Republic, the fight against discrimination and this type of comments?” he rebuked him.
Another of the accused, the novelist Aurélien Poirson-Atlan, who launched all kinds of hoaxes on the internet through his pseudonym, Zoé Sagan, has gone further and positioned himself as a victim. He has described the trial as “reverse cyberbullying.” Regarding the comments directed against Brigitte Macron, he declared during the hearing that it is “the price you pay for being a public figure.” He hasn’t considered it cyberbullying, but rather an “investigation” that was gaining momentum.
During the two days of hearings, tweets, messages, images and even videos published on social networks have been viewed, where the accused launched all kinds of false information, montages and mockery against Emmanuel Macron’s wife. Documents that seek to support wild and inconsistent theories, such as that Brigitte is really her brother, who would have impersonated her sister once she died, or worse still, that the current first lady of France would, in reality, be the father of Emmanuel Macron.
The most shocking moment of the second day of the trial occurred when the defense of the accused asked the court for absolution of her clients, and that Brigitte pay “a symbolic euro to each defendant for the damages caused.” Some of the attendees have sighed astonished in their seats, as if the story was no longer novel enough.
Seen for sentence, The prosecution has requested between 1 and 6 months in prison for the 10 accused, and fines ranging from 3,000 to 8,000 euros.
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