In July 2025, news spread about the mysterious death of a doctor who allegedly knew about the operations of the First Lady of France and planned to give an interview on this topic. We have verified the accuracy of such publications.
On July 2, media and Telegram channels reported that doctor François Febvre, a surgeon who was probably involved in the sex change of the wife of French President Brigitte Macron, was found dead in Paris. It is alleged that, according to the findings of forensic experts, the doctor committed suicide, but this version was considered implausible by Sister Fevre. According to her, the death of the surgeon is connected with his plans to give an interview about the operations that Brigitte Macron performed as part of her transgender transition.
Febvre's mysterious death was reported "RIA Novosti", "Russian newspaper", "Arguments and facts", "Moskovsky Komsomolets", "Constantinople", "Komsomolskaya Pravda", Lada.kz, as well as Telegram channels "Ax+"(1.7 million views at the time of writing this analysis), "Evil proof"(213,000), "Uncle Slava"(191,000), "Russia now • news"(156,000), "Tanya Ryzhova"(122,000), "Sheikh Tamir"(112,000), "Dmitry Vasilets" (110,000), "drain rat"(98,000), "Skabeeva"(95,000), etc.
The conspiracy theory that the first lady of France, Brigitte Macron, was a man in the past has existed for several years. For the first time she appeared in the French far-right magazine Faits & Documents in 2021, a year before the elections in which Emmanuel Macron was elected president for a second time. Then this theory put forward blogger Natasha Ray: she claimed that the real name of the first lady is Jean-Michel Trogneux. This is the name of Brigitte Macron's brother, who, according to Ray, does not actually exist. The blogger also insisted that before her transgender transition, the wife of the French president was married to a woman named Catherine Ozier. Because Faits & Documents was published only in print and was distributed by subscription, the theory did not immediately gain popularity - this happened after Rae outlined it later that year in a four-hour interview with Amandine Roy, who introduced herself as a psychic (the video has now been deleted). Since then, the transgender transition allegedly carried out by Brigitte Macron has been regularly reported. they tell conservative activists and far-right bloggers from different countries.
The belief of adherents of this theory in its veracity is based primarily on suspicions, rumors and the subjective perception of the Macron couple. On the one hand, such people are embarrassed by the large age difference between the spouses - the first lady is 24 years older than the president. On the other hand, Macron’s political career has been accompanied for many years by rumors about his homosexuality. At the same time, conspiracy theorists either ignore or turn upside down the biography of Brigitte Macron, for whom the politician has already become the second husband. Previously she was over 30 years old was married with the banker Andre-Louis Ozier (and not at all with the woman Catherine Ozier, as Ray claimed), three children were born into the family.
Among the evidence that Brigitte Macron was born a man and bore the name Jean-Michel, conspiracy theorists use a family photo of the first lady as a child. It is stated that Brigitte is not the girl sitting in her mother's arms, but the boy on the left side of the frame.
In fact, this boy... Brother French First Lady, whom name is Jean-Michel. Although he leads a non-public life, his existence confirmed, for example, entries in the 2022 voter lists, as well as comments witnesses who saw this man surrounded by the president. False allegations about Jean-Michel were personally refuted and Brigitte Macron, and her husband. In 2024, the Paris court admitted Natasha Ray, who launched the conspiracy theory, and Amandine Roy, who contributed to its spread, are guilty of libel. Brigitte Macron and her brother were awarded compensation in the amount of €8,000 and €5,000 respectively (which once again proves the existence of Jean-Michel). However, claims that France's first lady is trans continue to circulate in various languages.
Regarding the news about the death of surgeon Francois Febvre, many publications in their notes refer to a certain French news agency Enquête du jour. On his website there is a published July 1 article about the deceased doctor under the headline “Surgeon linked to Brigitte Macron transgender rumors found dead in Paris.” It clarifies that 58-year-old Febvre fell from a window on June 29. The note also contains a video that outlines its content and which was published by Telegram channels that talked about Fevre’s death. The one-and-a-half-minute video begins with a report from the alleged scene of the incident, which is commented by a voice-over. Next, a portrait of Febvre is shown, an interview with his sister Anne Dupont (without her voice being heard), footage of Brigitte Macron and, finally, a fragment of an interview that Febvre allegedly gave to Closer shortly before his death. In it, the doctor speaks, in particular, about collaboration with the surgeon Patrick Bui, who allegedly performed plastic surgery on the first lady of France.
Buoys, presented in the video as doctor Brigitte Macron, is a well-known plastic surgeon in France, head of the department of reconstructive, aesthetic and maxillofacial plastic surgery at the American Hospital in Paris, teacher and forensic expert. At the same time, “Verified” did not find any confirmation in authoritative sources that Brigitte Macron turned to the services of this surgeon. This is not surprising, given that in France the disclosure of medical confidentiality is prohibited and entails penalties. If Bui had told anyone about his patient, be it the first lady or an ordinary citizen, much less shown him medical documents, he threatened would be imprisonment for up to a year and a fine of €15,000. It is unlikely that a plastic surgeon with such a reputation would take such a step.
At the 24th second of the viral video, a photo is shown in which Patrick Bui is captured next to Brigitte Macron. In 2023 it published on your Facebook page sister surgeon, designer Barbara Bui. The photo was taken during the ceremony during which Emmanuel Macron presented the fashion designer with the Legion of Honor. Patrick Bui and Brigitte Macron were also present at the event, but this in no way proves their close relationship. “Verified” did not find any other common photographs of the surgeon and the French first lady in open sources.
While it is not difficult to find information about Patrick Bui, the situation is different with the main person involved in viral publications, Francois Febvre. “Verified” found a surgeon with the same name and surname in Paris. In a village not far from the French capital he works doctor general practitioner François Febvre, but this is unlikely to be the same person. The video states that Febvre worked for six years at the American Hospital in Paris with Patrick Bouie. AFP Agency appealed contacted this medical institution for comment and received a response that there were no records of this person working at the hospital. Analysis of a portrait from a viral video using the facial recognition service PimEyes led to other images of the same person in a medical uniform. published in the iStock photo bank without indicating the name in the signature. Simultaneously, Hive AI Content Detector appreciated the likelihood that this portrait was created by AI is extremely high. Apparently, the face from the stock photo became the basis of the image generated by the neural network.
In addition to this portrait, the video also contains a fragment of an interview that Febvre allegedly gave to the French tabloid Closer. However, firstly, on the publication’s website there is a mention of this person none, secondly, the video contains signs of falsification. During the entire 40-second segment, Febvre doesn't blink once, and his eyes move unnaturally. In addition, the surgeon and the interviewer talk monotonously and without hesitation. This may indicate that AI was used to create the video.
The story also features a short interview with Anne Dupont, who is introduced as Fevre's sister. Although the woman's voice cannot be heard, and a reverse search of the screenshot from the video yielded no results, the footage also contains signs of fraud. Fact checkers from AFP point out that the size of the woman's eyes in the video changes in the same way as in the fake footage from Fevre's interview. This is a typical anomaly for videos created using neural networks.
At the same time, the first frames of the viral video, a report from the scene of the incident, are real, but were first published long before the news of Fevre’s death. Their took off in Paris on October 14, 2022 by AFP operator.
Website, where the video was originally published, also looks extremely suspicious. The About Us section states that Enquête du jour is an independent French news agency covering current events in the country. At the same time, judging by the content on the site, it has been operating only since March 2025 and during this time it has released only a few dozen notes (the vast majority of them were in June and July; before that the site was empty). At the same time, according to data Whois service, this site was registered on June 25, that is, just a week before the publication of an article about the alleged death of a surgeon.
Among the authors of Enquête du jour there are five real French journalists, but on their pages on social networks there is no information about cooperation with this publication. Freelance journalist Audrey Parmentier, who allegedly wrote about the death of Febvre, reported in X that Enquête du jour is a fake news site and that she and her colleagues did not write anything for it. Also among the authors of this portal are journalists from the publication StreetPress, but it published statement, in which this information is called false.
The fake news about the death of François Febvre went viral on July 1 - shortly after the note and video appeared on the Enquête du jour website, X users drew attention to it. Some posts are in French with the viral video dialed more than 1 million views. The next day, similar publications appeared in pro-Kremlin Telegram channels, the earliest “Verified” entry discovered was fast in the channel “Kali Yuga today 2.0”, posted on July 2 at 14:17 Moscow time. This is not the first time this source appears in analyzes “Verified” as a distributor of fake information.
Creating fake news sites or posting falsified materials on existing but little-known resources is a common practice for legitimizing fake news. For example, according to a similar principle was created many news about expensive purchases allegedly made by Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky and his close relatives.
Thus, reports about the death of a surgeon who was preparing to talk about Brigitte Macron’s transgender transition are based on an article from a fake news site. The video it contains is compiled from videos that have nothing to do with this story or were even generated by AI. This fake was created and spread within the framework of a long-existing conspiracy theory about the transgenderness of the French first lady. The corresponding allegations have been repeatedly refuted by Brigitte Macron herself and her husband, as well as by independent media and the French court.
Cover photo: social networks
- AFP Factual. Attention à ce faux reportage sur le décès d'un chirurgien prétendument lié à Brigitte Macron
- France Info. Rumeurs sur Brigitte Macron : un faux site d'information usurpe l'identité de veritables journalistes
- Snopes. France's First Lady Brigitte Macron Isn't Trans
- The Insider. Fake by the Kremlin media: the first lady of France is a former man
- euronews. Why are rumors about Brigitte Macron being transgender resurfacing false?
- Is the video of Macron kissing a man true?
- Is it true that Macron's lover died of AIDS?
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