Gisèle Pelicot Gave Her First Interview Since Her Husband And 49 Other Men Were Convicted Of Rape

Gisèle Pelicot, the woman whose husband drugged and raped her along with at least 70 other men, explains for the first time why she allowed her name and her husband’s trial to be public. She talked to the New York Times about her husband, the trials, and her new memoir, A Hymn to Life: Shame Has to Change Sides.

Pelicot says much of the book is an attempt to understand the man she married, who was capable of betraying her in such a lengthy and monstrous way. She says he was shy when they met as teens, but that his father was an authoritarian.

It was 40 years into their marriage before Pelicot’s husband began abusing her, though she did not recognize it at the time. She began experiencing blackouts and worried she had a neurological disorder. She had no idea that the lapses were caused by intentional drugging by her husband. Her world came crashing down in 2020 when her husband was caught taking upskirt photos of women at the supermarket. The investigation eventually revealed that he had also recorded evidence of the men he allowed to assault his wife.

Pelicot said, “I found it hard to believe because he had never done anything underhanded to me. In 50 years, I had never seen anything. He was not a man who made jokes about women or behaved inappropriately toward them.”

She disassociated and had trouble taking in what police told her when they showed her pictures of the assaults and explained what her husband had been doing. She was also overcome with shame, even though she hadn’t done anything wrong. “I think all victims feel this shame. You feel dirty, you feel degraded. There’s nothing human about it. I spent hours in the shower trying to wash away this filth, this dirt that makes you feel dehumanized.”

Pelicot says that writing her memoir was especially important because of all the women who have had moments of realization about their own assaults as a result of this case being made public. She has received thousands of letters from women thanking her. She says, “I think entire generations of women have been muzzled, and this trial enabled these women to talk openly.”

In 2024, her husband was found guilty and given the maximum twenty‑year sentence. 49 other men were also convicted of assaulting Ms. Pelicot.

How have you felt about this unbelievable story? Do you think there’s anything we can do to prevent things like this from happening to women all over the world?