Pregnant woman seen dangling from Bataclan window breaks her silence 10 years after ISIS massacre as hero who risked his life to save her reveals she has become his ‘sister in arms’

The pregnant woman who was seen hanging from the window during the terrible terrorist attacks in Paris in 2015 broke her silence for the first time in ten years.

Ten years ago, ISIS fanatics targeted cultural institutions in Paris in one of the deadliest attacks in French history, killing more than 130 people and wounding more than 400.

Terrorists attacked many crowded restaurants, as well as the Stade de France and the Bataclan Theatre, where the rock band Eagles of Death Metal was performing that night.

Charlotte was filmed holding on to a window sill for her life in a theater in the 11th arrondissement of Paris.

The woman, who was pregnant at the time, was heard pleading in a video describing the incident that was watched all over the world: ‘Help me, help me, I’m pregnant, catch me if I fall.’

Sébastien Besatti, also clinging to the building’s facade from a window sill, decided to risk his own life to help her and went back inside the Bataclan to carry her inside.

Charlotte, who refused to give her surname, told Le Monde that she did not let the terrorist attack define her life but that Sébastien was now part of her life: ‘The Bataclan is not part of my life but Sébastien is.’

Meanwhile, Sébastien told the newspaper: ‘We are complete opposites, but he is my brother in arms.’

He said he helped him because he was ‘in a better position than him’.

The man added: ‘I could have stood outside but when I heard him I decided to go in.’

The woman, who was pregnant at the time, was heard begging in the video that was watched all over the world and described the incident: “Help me, help me, I’m pregnant, catch me if I fall.”

But he also admitted: ‘I did the act of saving her for myself. I needed it. It brought me back together with my feelings. I started to understand that happiness comes from sharing.’

Sébastien was one of many hostages taken by terrorists an hour after the attack began.

Police officers entering the building heard his conversation. He had been made a spokesman for the terrorists and told police that two gunmen wearing explosive vests were holding about 20 people captive.

He shouted from the other side of the door and asked the officers to stop, saying that if the police advanced, the captives would be killed or beheaded.

Speaking to RTL radio, Sébastien described what the terrorists said: “They told us their sermons, their speeches and why they were there.”

‘They told us that the reason they were there was the bombs dropped on Syria. They said that they did the same thing to us Westerners as we did to them there.’

The hostages were ordered to stand guard at the windows, telling the police to stay away.

They were also used as ‘human shields’ and forced to sit near the door where French police officers might have accidentally shot them.

American rock band Eagles of Death Metal appeared on stage at the Bataclan concert hall in Paris on November 13, 2015, moments before four men armed with assault rifles and shouting “Allahu akbar” (“God is great!”) stormed the concert venue.

A tense negotiation ensued between the gunmen and the police; Meanwhile, officers were given a mobile phone number and spoke to the attackers five times; This turned out to be a futile attempt at diplomacy.

Charlotte and Sébastien revealed they had met each other properly a month after the attack, following her husband’s appeal to learn the identity of the man who saved his wife.

Sébastien explained that he did not immediately recognize Charlotte, but that Charlotte recognized him. He told the newspaper that he “had a big smile that was completely out of line with what was going on.”

As soon as they met, they immediately started catching up with each other: ‘I jumped at the opportunity to make him my confidant. He became a close friend’.

Charlotte said she was deeply traumatized by the attack and took herself to a psychiatric clinic at Sainte-Anne Hospital the next day.

He said he struggled with nightmares and panic attacks for months, making it almost impossible to get on the subway or be in a crowd.

Charlotte also said that she refused to appear in court during the trial of the terrorists, only attending the hearing on the day Sébastien and the other victims described what happened to them.

The ongoing trauma led her to flee on November 13, the anniversary of the attack, with her daughter, born seven months after the attack, her husband, and her closest friends.

Members of the French fire brigade help an injured person near the Bataclan concert hall after the deadly shootings in Paris, France, November 13, 2015.

People take to the streets after one of the deadliest attacks in French history

The three gunmen who attacked the Bataclan were identified as Foued Mohamed-Aggad (23), Omar Ismaïl Mostefai (29) and Samy Amimour (28).

All three died during the attack, either by blowing themselves up or by gunshots triggering explosions. Mostefai, who is of Algerian origin, was the first person to be identified after his severed finger was found by French authorities at the site of the Bataclan theater.

According to German media reports, the names of these people appear in leaked files from the Islamic State militant group, in which approximately 22,000 fighters were identified; There is a file containing a name, address and other information for each member.

In 2021, the largest criminal trial in French history began; to prosecute those guilty of carrying out the worst terrorist attack the country has ever seen.

About 20 men, all suspected Islamic State terrorists, were charged with killing 130 people and wounding hundreds more in a special court built to host the ten-month trial.

Five judges heard testimony from more than 2,000 witnesses and analyzed more than a million pages of evidence.

Fourteen of them were tried in person and the other six were tried in absentia; They are assumed to have died or disappeared while fighting for ISIS in Syria.

A man with a bloody shirt speaks on the phone near the Bataclan Theater in Paris, France, on the morning of November 14, 2015.

A man kneels as he remembers the victims near the scene of the attack at the Bataclan concert hall in Paris on November 16, 2015.

As the 10th anniversary of the terrorist attacks that killed 132 people and injured hundreds of people was commemorated in Paris on Thursday, November 13, 2025, people pay their respects to the victims in front of the Bataclan concert hall.

The group’s only surviving attacker, Salah Abdeslam, was sentenced to a rare life sentence.

The court found his explosive vest was faulty and rejected the suggestion that he abandoned it because he changed his mind and decided not to carry out his part of the attack.

Apart from Abdeslam, 18 of the defendants were given various terrorism-related sentences, while one was convicted on a lesser charge of fraud. Some were sentenced to life imprisonment, while others were released after being sentenced to prison.