Gisèle Pelicot speaks

WARNING: This story contains descriptions of sexual abuse.

For 50 years, Gisèle Pelicot lived with her husband, Dominique Pelicot, whom she described as “a kind man, a devoted family man. It was a beautiful love story, until the day I found myself faced with the horror of the events.”

Those events shattered Gisèle’s seemingly normal life and placed her at the center of a mass rape trial, an unthinkable crime that gripped France and received worldwide attention. But it was his response that would be defining.

He sat down with “News Sunday Morning” for what he said was his first interview: “Yes, it’s the first,” he said through an interpreter. “I’m not used to talking in front of cameras. I used to be a very discreet woman.”

It all came undone in 2020, inside a supermarket in Mazan, France, when what seemed like a minor crime uncovered a much bigger one. Dominique Pelicot was caught recording videos up women’s skirts. Her arrest led to the discovery of disturbing images taken inside her home of an unconscious Gisèle Pelicot.

“My world collapsed”

At a local police station, an investigator told Gisèle what he had found: “He said, ‘Mrs. Pelicot, do you recognize yourself in these photos?'” she recalled. “And I said, ‘No, it’s not me.’ Then he said, ‘This is your bedroom.’ And I see a woman I don’t recognize at all, completely asleep with a man next to her. I don’t know this man. And then he says, ‘I’m going to tell you something shocking: you were raped by 53 people.’ My world collapsed.”

She described the woman in the video as a rag doll. That woman was her. “Yes, it was me, but this woman was lifeless,” he said. “She looked dead.”

Your answer? “I couldn’t speak. I was in such a state of shock. All I wanted was to go home, get my life back to the way it was before.”

But that life was gone. The man she knew as a loving father to her three children and a caring grandfather had been drugging her with sleeping pills and muscle relaxants, and then inviting men he met online to abuse her.

His lawyer, Stéphane Babonneau, said he represented hundreds of rapes over at least 10 years. He and Gisèle began to understand the magnitude of the crimes as they prepared for trial: “In the range of hundreds, if not thousands” of photographs, he said. “And in the case of videos, definitely hundreds.”

Among the evidence: messages Dominque Pelicot posted online (“I’m looking for a perverted accomplice to abuse my sleeping wife…”) and text messages (“I’m about to give her a dose… We have to wait at least an hour to abuse”).

“It’s been a real journey into darkness,” Babonneau said. He described the images as “scenes of torture. There is no other word for it… In this video we see a human being, being treated like an object. We see men desecrating a human body, desecrating someone, Gisèle, who is in deep anguish, because her life was at risk every moment she was drugged and abused.”

Victims of sexual abuse can remain anonymous in France. Until the 2024 trial, Gisèle Pelicot’s name was not known. But then he made a bold decision: to demand an open trial, allowing the public and the press into the courtroom.

Revealing her identity to the world, she said, was difficult: “It was very difficult. I didn’t want anyone to find out and know about this woman who had experienced all this violence. Because, truthfully, victims always feel shame about what happened to them. I told myself that if I opened the process behind closed doors, the shame would change sides.”

The words “Shame must change sides” are the subtitle of her intimate account of the ordeal, “A Hymn to Life” (to be published Tuesday by Penguin Press).

Babonneau said he became concerned when he heard she wanted to have an open trial: “Because we knew there would be tremendous pressure on her,” he said.

“Anger and hate do not build anything; they destroy”

At trial, the defendants hid their faces while appearing in court. They were between 26 and 74 years old. Among them: a firefighter, a soldier and a nurse. In court, many claimed that Gisèle Pelicot must have known and been complicit.

But Dominique Pelicot admitted it alltestified: “It was always against her knowledge,” adding that he drugged her two or three times a week. “I had an addiction,” he said.

Looking back, Gisèle said, there were warning signs: “I just knew that I had fainting spells and that I had health problems,” she said. There were also periods when his memory was affected. “I couldn’t remember that I had gone to the hairdresser; it wasn’t until the next day that I realized I had,” she said. “And when I called my children, it was the same: I didn’t remember our conversations.

“I thought I was seriously ill. I consulted neurologists, they did a CT scan and they found nothing,” she said.

Even when recounting her horrible experience on “Sunday Morning,” Gisèle Pelicot maintained her poise. “I’ve always been like that,” he said. “Anger and hate don’t build anything; they destroy. And I didn’t want to go down that path.”

The trial made headlines around the world and attracted large crowds of supporters, who praised Gisèle Pelicot for her bravery and presented her as a feminist heroine. Seeing those fans, she said, made her feel like she wasn’t alone: ​​”It was an incredible source of strength for me.”

The 51 men finally tried were convicted. Dominique Pelicot was sentenced to a maximum sentence of 20 years.

He has apologized to his (now ex) wife. But Gisèle Pelicot says: “No. Forgiving is extremely difficult. But I don’t want to live in hate. I need to talk to him, and it will also be to say goodbye.”

But she does want to see him again. “Yes,” she said. “I need answers. I may never get them. But that’s part of my journey, too.”

During our interview, off camera, was Gisèle’s new partner, Jean-Loup, who was also at her side during the trial, along with his children.

“I never thought I would fall in love, or even want to,” she said. “It’s a beautiful story. As for the rest, it belongs to us and I keep it to myself.”

But are you in love? “Indeed. You can fall in love at any age. Anything is possible. That is also a message of hope, telling yourself that nothing is lost in life.”

Despite the details of her ordeal, by the end of the book her story is, miraculously, uplifting. “I always wondered what my mission on Earth was, why I was born,” he said. “Some are painters, some are poets, some are writers. I think my mission was to give others hope, that even after hardships, you can get up again and choose happiness. I think that was my mission.”

For more information:

• “A Hymn to Life: Shame Has to Change Sides” by Gisèle Pelicot (Penguin Press), in hardcover, e-book, and audio formats, available February 17 through Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and Bookshop.org

Story produced by Mikaela Bufano. Editor: Brian Robbins.