Gisèle Pelicot says trial was for all sexual violence survivors and women who gathered at court ‘gave her strength’

The feminist hero who changed the world for sexual offence survivors with her calls for shame to change sides speaks at the UK launch of her powerful new memoir A Hymn to Life

Gisèle Pelicot has said her trial was for all sexual violence survivors as she opened up about the women gathered at court who “gave her strength” in a moving conversation.

The 73-year-old was speaking at the UK launch of her powerful memoir, A Hymn to Life, which details the harrowing ordeal she suffered after discovering her then-husband drugged then raped her while unconscious, along with dozens of men he had recruited online.

In the book, written with journalist Judith Perrignon, Ms Pelicot opens up about the moment she decided to waive her anonymity and have a public trial, paving the way for France’s most shocking mass rape case, and changing the world for sexual offence survivors with her calls for shame to change sides.

Speaking at the Southbank Centre in London on Friday, Ms Pelicot said the women who gathered in greater and greater numbers outside the courthouse in Avignon throughout the trial help her find the strength to endure its duration, after initially only planning to stay for two weeks of the three months.

“It gave me an enormous amount of strength,” she said. “I had to stay there, we were really connected.”

She revealed that she did not read the news at all during that period, and has not really since, but instead chose to end each harrowing day at court by reading the letters sent to her from women around the globe who shared their stories of survival.

“This actually gave me strength,” she said. “It wasn’t just my own trial, but a trial for all these women who went through sexual violence.”

Gisèle Pelicot’s powerful memoir, A Hymn to Life, was released this week (Pascal Ito/Éditions Flammarion)

The event, chaired by Ms Ahmed, included moving readings from the new book, which went on sale on Tuesday, by actors Juliet Stevenson, Dame Kristin Scott Thomas and Kate Winslet.

In her memoir, Ms Pelicot recalls the moment her “brain shut down” as police told her what her then-husband Dominique Pelicot and the 50 other attackers had done to her. The men were jailed for a total of 428 years in 2024 after 47 of them were found guilty of rape, two were found guilty of attempted rape, and two were found guilty of sexual assault.

Ms Ahmed and Ms Pelicot discussed the around 20 further attackers that investigations suggested are yet to be identified, on top of the 51 men who were convicted.

Asked if there is hope of finding them, Ms Pelicot said: “No, I don’t think so. Sometimes I fear these individuals could continue committing crimes. Maybe they’ll be caught one day. But unfortunately, I don’t know. Maybe life will give a helping hand to arrest these individuals one day.”

Ms Pelicot referred to the trial of the 51 men who were found as “the trial of cowardice” because “none of them admitted they’d done anything wrong”.

Speaking at the Southbank Centre in London on Friday evening, journalist Samira Ahmed asked Ms Pelicot about the around 20 more attackers that investigations suggested are yet to be identified, on top of the 51 men who were convicted (Tara Cobham / The Independent)

She also expressed her sympathy for the families of the perpetrators whose “lives are shattered forever”. “There was not just one victim, there were 51 victims,” she said.

She opened up about how the horrific ordeal her own family had been put through had “really pushed us apart”. She said: “This trauma didn’t bring us together. It’s not true that trauma necessarily brings family together.”

Speaking of how she has tried to make sense of how her supposedly loving husband of 50 years could do what he did to her, Ms Pelicot described him in similar terms to how psychologists did during the trial: “As a man split in two.”

“I tried to bring him into the light, but he has this dark side,” she said. “It’s intolerable. It’s unacceptable. This shattered our family, our lives were absolutely shattered.”

There is a brief moment in the book when she writes of the moment she considered “ending it all”. But she said on Friday: “This was only a momentary thought. I thought no. I have to continue. It was important to face up to reality. I had some sort of strength inside.”

Ms Pelicot, centre, with her lawyers Stephane Babonneau and Antoine Camus, speaks to the media at the criminal court in Avignon, southern France, after her attackers were sentenced in December (EPA)

It is this remarkable ability of Ms Pelicot to find extraordinary strength and courage during even the worst of times that she wants to leave us with.

She told the audience: “Above all, this book is a message of hope. Look at what I’ve gone through, I’m still here. We can go through difficult times. We can get through. I want to, above all, put forward a message of hope.”

She ended by revealing that her plans for the future are simply to live “serenely”. But she added: “I’ll always listen to women who need support. I’ll always be here.”

‘A Hymn to Life’ is published by Bodley Head and is available now.

If you are experiencing feelings of distress, or are struggling to cope, you can speak to the Samaritans, in confidence, on 116 123 (UK and ROI), email jo@samaritans.org, or visit the Samaritans website to find details of your nearest branch.

If you are based in the USA, and you or someone you know needs mental health assistance right now, call or text 988, or visit 988lifeline.org to access online chat from the 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline. This is a free, confidential crisis hotline that is available to everyone 24 hours a day, seven days a week. If you are in another country, you can go to www.befrienders.org to find a helpline near you.