Gisele Pelicot offers inspiring message to fellow rape survivors in her first TV interview and reveals why she decided to go public during husband’s trial

Gisele Pelicot offered an inspiring message to victims of sexual abuse in her first television interview since her ex-husband and 50 other men were jailed for rape.

Ms Pelicot, 73, said she decided to waive anonymity ahead of the hearing to fight on behalf of the ‘collective’ and prove to other victims that ‘they can do it too’.

‘Shame sticks to you,’ he said this week. ‘It sticks to your skin. And this shame is a double sentence, a suffering you inflict on yourself.

‘I told myself that fighting against this on an individual level is also fighting on behalf of the collective. I said, if I can do it, others can too. My hopeful message to all victims is, never be ashamed.’

The interview with France 5 television took place just over a year after Mrs Pelicot bravely watched in court as her husband of half a century, Dominique Pelicot, was sentenced to 20 years in prison for rape and sexual assault. He was found guilty of all charges.

Approximately 50 men were also sentenced to prison terms ranging from three to 15 years for the rape and sexual assault of Ms Pelicot. Another man was convicted of drugging and raping his own wife with Dominique’s help.

Pelicot, who became an icon of the fight against sexual violence during the hearing, spoke ahead of the publication of her memoir, Hymn to Life: Et la joie de vivre, meaning Shame Has to Change Sides.

The book tells the French woman’s story of courage and survival. In excerpts published in Le Monde this week, she describes the day in November 2020 when her world came crashing down when her then-husband was called by the police over allegations of upskirting.

Ms Pelicot, 73, said she decided to waive her anonymity ahead of the hearing to fight on behalf of the ‘collective’ and prove to other victims ‘they can do it too’ (Image: Ms Pelicot speaking to reporters in December 2024)

Dominique Pelicot was sentenced to 20 years in prison

Miss Pelicot accompanied him and was completely unprepared for the bombshell of officer Laurent Perret.

Slowly and carefully, she described how the man she considered a loving husband and whom she described as a ‘superman’ had unwittingly made her the victim of his perversions.

The police officer explains in the book: “I will show you photos and videos that will not please you.”

The first showed a man raping a woman lying on her side and wearing a suspender belt.

The officer said, ‘That’s you in this photo.’

Then he showed her another photo, and another after that; It was taken from a collection of photographs Dominique had taken over the years in which he regularly drugged his wife’s food and drinks to knock her out so that strangers he invited into their home could attack her while he was filming.

Mrs. Pelicot could not believe that she was the motionless woman in the photographs.

‘I couldn’t recognize the people. Not this woman either. His cheek was very droopy. His mouth is very slack. ‘He was a rag doll,’ he writes in his book.

‘My brain stopped working in Deputy Sergeant Perret’s office.’

The shocking case and her courage to demand a trial in open court led to a national reckoning about the plight of rape culture. The harrowing case ended in December 2024, with all 51 defendants found guilty.

In her book, Ms. Pelicot also described how her partner, Jean-Loup, whom she met in the summer of 2023, became her pillar of strength as the trial approached.

Ms Pelicot says her decision to waive her anonymity during the hearing made her feel less alone (Photo taken in front of the Avignon courthouse in November 2024)

In her book, Ms Pelicot also revealed how her partner, Jean-Loup, whom she met in the summer of 2023, became her pillar of strength as the trial approached (Pictured in October 2025)

He describes how Jean-Loup dictated the 400-page indictment that his lawyers wanted him to read so that he would not have to read it on the screen.

She also describes how, as she read all the horrific details of her experience, she became prepared to face the courtroom because of her confidence in both her relationship and her age.

‘I wasn’t afraid of my wrinkles or my body. I loved Jean-Loup and he loved me. My happiness also played a role.”

In extracts from the book, Ms Pelicot says accepting the possibility of a closed hearing would protect her abusers and leave her alone with them in court, ‘hostage to their appearance, their lies, their cowardice and their disdain’.

‘No one will know what they did to me. “Not a single journalist will write their names next to their crimes,” he explains. ‘After all, not a single woman can walk into a courtroom and sit down to feel less alone.’

If he were twenty years younger, the 73-year-old said, ‘I wouldn’t dare refuse a closed hearing.’ he adds.

‘I was afraid of looks,’ he writes. ‘Those damned looks that a woman of my generation has always had to fight, those damned looks that make you hesitate in the morning between trousers and a dress, that follow you or ignore you, that flatter you and embarrass you. ‘Those damn looks that are supposed to tell you who you are, what you value, and then leave you as you get older.’

He also says that he feels ‘fed and warmed’ by ‘the crowd that swells outside every day and keeps me company’ near the pitch. ‘This crowd saved me.’

In an interview with Télérama magazine, Gisèle said that her nearly 50-year marriage to Dominique Pelicot was not entirely based on lies and that her book “is not just the story of a woman who knows pain.”

‘I am an unconditional optimist,’ he said. ‘Despite what I’ve been through and despite being 73 years old, I’m very much alive and I allow myself to be happy. One can make friends and even fall in love again.’