WARNING: This text contains particulars of intimate companion violence and sexual assault.
Gisèle Pelicot Defines Herself as an Optimist
Gisèle Pelicot, now 73, rejects labels like sufferer, survivor, or feminist icon imposed by others. She describes herself merely as “an optimist.” Regardless of the horrors revealed throughout her ex-husband’s trial in September 2024, she maintains religion in males, love, and private peace.
“I’ve at all times believed in happiness,” she states. “And that is important, in my thoughts, as a result of if there is not love, I can not see why we’d be right here on Earth.”
Her upcoming memoir, A Hymn to Life: Disgrace Has to Change Sides, echoes this sentiment. “I do know my story has fuelled disgust for males, however it has not executed that for me,” she writes. “I nonetheless think about folks. As soon as that was my biggest weak point, now it’s my power, my revenge.”
The Surprising Trial and Convictions
Practically six years in the past, police in southeastern France confronted Pelicot with images and movies from her ex-husband Dominique Pelicot’s assortment. The proof confirmed him drugging her unconscious and orchestrating assaults by himself and at the least 50 different males recruited on-line, beginning in 2011.
Authorities recognized suspects from round 20,000 recordsdata. Dominique Pelicot acquired the utmost 20-year sentence underneath French regulation. The 50 convicted males confronted phrases from three to fifteen years.
Pelicot waived her proper to anonymity, changing into an emblem of power. Supporters worldwide rallied behind her as she appeared day by day exterior the Avignon courthouse, emphasizing that survivors bear no disgrace.
“On the street, girls inform me: ‘You are an icon.’ I might say I am extra like an emblem or a landmark in these girls’s lives, as a result of the trial actually gave them a voice,” she explains. “However actually, I am an odd lady who refused that the trial be closed to the general public.”
Household Devastation and Therapeutic
The revelations shattered Pelicot’s household, together with her three grownup kids. She filed for divorce whereas Dominique awaited trial, severing all contact.
Photographs of her daughter, Caroline Darian, emerged from his pc, exhibiting her in underwear, seemingly asleep. Darian believes she suffered abuse too and has filed costs towards her father, who denied the claims in courtroom.
Pelicot expresses fury for her daughter and hopes for solutions. “In the present day, every of us is attempting to heal as finest we are able to, however we every felt it in a different way and had totally different sorts of struggling,” she says. “I imply, for the youngsters, this was their dad … and that every one crashed down.”
Relations coped uniquely, with Pelicot cherishing outdated images of happier occasions. “You possibly can’t return and relive your life,” she displays. “I wanted to imagine that these 50 years hadn’t been a lie in order that I might carry on residing … Everybody has to search out their very own technique to deal with these recollections.”
Rebuilding with Hope and New Love
Pelicot grapples with cognitive dissonance from her 50-year marriage to a person she noticed as “candy, sort … a very good father, a very good grandfather.” The betrayal felt like “a bomb exploded in my life.” But she avoids labeling him a monster: “They’re monstrous acts. He is nonetheless a human being, regardless of what he did.”
By her guide, she embraces a “message of hope,” trusting love once more. She discovered a supportive companion throughout the trial. “I am not wanting again, I am wanting ahead. I permit myself to be joyful in the present day,” she affirms. “I will at all times be there for girls, in the event that they want me, to present them power, to encourage them to go all the best way if they are going to press costs … However I additionally aspire to a peaceable life and to make the most of the years I’ve left.”
