Shafaq News/ French First Lady Brigitte Macron plans to take legal action over an online conspiracy theory that she is a transgender woman and was born a man.

The conspiracy falsely claims she was born Jean-Michael Trogneux. 

Several tweets speculated on a still image of what appears to show Macron, whose maiden name is Trogneux, standing with her legs apart during a visit to the White House. However, a video tweeted by French President Emmanuel Macron shows that the photo was taken while she was shifting her standing position.

Brigitte Macron intends to initiate legal proceedings and file a complaint against the instigators of the rumors; her staff told French paper, Le Figaro.

The BBC reported that the rumors against Macron, a 63-year-old ex-schoolteacher with three children and seven grandchildren from a former marriage, were primarily pushed by far-right groups, the anti-vaxx movement, and QAnon conspiracy theorists.

According to BusinessInsider, Macron isn't the first prominent woman in global politics to be targeted by false conspiracy theories surrounding their sex — former First Lady Michelle Obama was the subject of similar baseless rumors in 2016.

New Zealand's Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern was also accused in 2018 of hiding her identity as a transgender woman and faking a pregnancy.