Gisele Pelicot Delivers Powerful Message to Sexual Abuse Survivors Following Landmark Trial
Gisele Pelicot has delivered an inspiring and courageous message to survivors of sexual abuse in her first television interview since her ex-husband and fifty other men were imprisoned for rape and sexual assault. Ms Pelicot, aged 73, revealed that she chose to waive her legal anonymity ahead of the trial to fight for the 'collective' and demonstrate to other victims that 'they could too'.
Shame is a Double Sentence
'Shame sticks to you,' she stated this week. 'It sticks to your skin. And that shame is a double sentence, it's a suffering you inflict on yourself.' She explained her motivation: 'I said to myself that fighting against that on an individual level was also fighting for the collective. I said if I could do it, other people could too. My message of hope to all victims is never have shame.'
The interview with France 5 television occurs just over a year after Ms Pelicot bravely observed in court as Dominique Pelicot—her husband of half a century—received a twenty-year prison sentence for rape and sexual assaults, being found guilty on all charges. In total, fifty other men were also jailed for rapes and sexual assaults against Ms Pelicot, with sentences ranging from three to fifteen years. An additional man was convicted of drugging and raping his own wife with Dominique's assistance.
A Memoir of Courage and Survival
Ms Pelicot, who became an emblem of the fight against sexual violence during the trial, has spoken out ahead of the publication of her upcoming memoir, Et la joie de vivre, which translates to A Hymn to Life: Shame Has to Change Sides. The book details her story of courage and survival. In extracts released this week in Le Monde, she recounts the day her world collapsed in November 2020 when her then-husband was summoned by police amid allegations of up-skirting.
Accompanying him, Ms Pelicot was utterly unprepared for the revelation delivered by officer Laurent Perret. Gradually and carefully, he explained how the man she viewed as a loving husband, described as 'a super guy', had actually made her an unwitting victim of his perversions. 'I am going to show you photos and videos that are not going to please you,' the officer said, as she recounts in the book.
The Horrific Discovery
The first image showed a man raping a woman lying on her side, dressed in a suspender belt. 'That's you in this photo,' the officer informed her. He then displayed another photo, and another—drawn from a collection Dominique took over years when he regularly drugged her food and drink to render her unconscious, allowing strangers he invited to their home to assault her while he filmed.
Ms Pelicot could not believe the inert woman in the photos was herself. 'I didn't recognise the individuals. Nor this woman. Her cheek was so flabby. Her mouth so limp. She was a rag doll,' she writes. 'My brain stopped working in the office of Deputy Police Sergeant Perret.'
The shocking case and her bravery in demanding an open court trial spurred a national reckoning on rape culture. The harrowing trial concluded in December 2024 with guilty verdicts for all fifty-one defendants.
Finding Strength and Love
In her memoir, Ms Pelicot also reveals how her partner, Jean-Loup, whom she met in summer 2023, became her pillar of strength as the trial approached. He printed the four-hundred-page indictment her lawyers wanted her to read so she would not have to view it on a screen. Reading the horrific details, she became ready to face the courtroom, bolstered by confidence in her relationship and her age. 'I wasn't afraid of my wrinkles, nor my body. I loved Jean-Loup, and he loved me. My happiness also played a part.'
In the book extracts, Ms Pelicot asserts that accepting a closed-door trial would have protected her abusers and left her alone with them in court, 'hostage to their looks, their lies, their cowardice and their scorn'. 'No one would know what they had done to me. Not a single journalist would be there to write their names next to their crimes,' she explains. 'Above all, not a single woman could walk in and sit in the courtroom to feel less alone.'
The Power of Public Support
The 73-year-old adds that had she been twenty years younger, 'I might not have dared to refuse a closed-door hearing.' 'I would have feared the stares,' she writes. 'Those damned stares a woman of my generation has always had to contend with, those damned stares that make you hesitate in the morning between trousers and a dress, that follow you or ignore you, flatter you and embarrass you. Those damned stares that are supposed to tell you who you are, what you're worth, and then abandon you as you grow older.'
She says she also felt 'nourished and warmed' by 'that crowd outside, swelling and escorting me every day' near the court. 'That crowd saved me.'
In an interview with Télérama magazine, Gisele noted that her nearly fifty-year marriage with Dominique Pelicot wasn't entirely built on lies and that her book 'isn't the story of a woman who has only known pain'. 'I am an unconditional optimist,' she said. 'Despite what I experienced and the fact that I am 73 years old, I am very much alive, and I allow myself to be happy. One can make friends, and even fall in love again.'
