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For half a century, Gisèle Pelicot lived under the impression that her husband, Dominique Pelicot, was a devoted family man. That illusion was shattered when she discovered the grim reality: he had been surreptitiously drugging her and allowing strangers to assault her unconscious body, joining in the heinous acts himself.
As reported by CBS News, Dominique sought out accomplices online, messaging, “I’m looking for a pervert accomplice to abuse my sleeping wife…” In another chilling text, he instructed an attacker to wait until the drugs had taken effect, cautioning, “You’ll have to wait at least one hour to abuse her.”
Unaware of her husband’s betrayal, Gisèle attributed her lapses in memory to health issues, consulting doctors for what she thought were cognitive problems. It wasn’t until 2020 that the police unveiled the shocking truth—her husband and 50 others had been convicted of abusing her.
Reflecting on her marriage, Gisèle told CBS Sunday Morning, “It was a beautiful love story, until the day I found myself facing the horror of the facts.”
Gisèle is now sharing her journey of recovery and newfound happiness in her memoir, A Hymn to Life, released on February 17. The book details how she rebuilt her life and found love once again.
“I still have faith in people,” she wrote in the book, according to Reuters. “Once, that was my greatest weakness. Now it is my strength. My revenge.”
Police Find Evidence Against Dominque Pelicot
Gisèle told People she met her husband when they both were teenagers and the pair quickly “fell madly in love.” Together, they had three children and built a life together in France.
The couple was enjoying their retirement in the small village of Mazan when Gisèle began noticing problems with her memory. Doctors were unable to pinpoint a reason for the health struggles.
Gisèle recalled once even jokingly asking her husband if he’d been drugging her.
“He started crying and said, ‘How can you say something like that?’” she recalled to People through a translator. “And I felt guilty. I blamed myself for having said such a thing. I didn’t believe a word of it. I was just so worried about my blackouts.”
The horrifying truth came out after Dominique was arrested for taking video up women’s skirts at a Mazan grocery store. While investigators were looking into the case, they found video footage and photos of an unconscious Gisèle being sexually assaulted. They later learned he’d been regularly drugging her food with anti-anxiety and sleeping pills, per the outlet. When police showed her the images they’d found, she initially didn’t recognize herself.
“The officer says a number,” the memoir noted. “He tells me fifty-three men had come to my house to rape me.”
Gisèle remembered being stunned by the information, telling CBS Sunday Morning, “My world collapsed.”
“I could not speak. I was in such a state of shock,” she continued. “All I wanted was to go home, to get my life back as it was before.”
Gisèle Pelicot on Her Decision to Come Forward Against Dominque Pelicot
But nothing would ever be the same for Gisèle. Her husband went on trial in 2024. Although victims of sexual abuse can remain anonymous in France, Gisèle chose to come forward, becoming an advocate for other victims as she attended court each day.
“As a victim, you’re punished twice,” she told People of coming forward. “We inflict a kind of suffering on ourselves. I told myself fighting against that shame was a way of helping everyone else.”
Dominque, 73, was found guilty in December 2024 and sentenced to 20 years in prison. The other 50 abusers identified by investigators—who ranged in age from 26 to 74—were also convicted, receiving sentences ranging from time served to 15 years behind bars, the outlet reported.
Although Gisèle has yet to visit Dominque, she wrote in her memoir that some day she will—if only to try to get answers to the questions she has.
“I need answers,” she told CBS Sunday Morning. “I may never get them. But that’s also part of my journey.”
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Today, Gisèle—who divorced her husband—is choosing to focus on the future and has even found love with widower Jean-Loup, who she described as an “extraordinary person with a very beautiful soul.”
The couple now spend their days dancing to ABBA, cooking and going on bike rides.
“I have such trust in him. It may seem paradoxical…but just because I lived through something sordid as I did with Monsieur Pelicot doesn’t mean it will happen again,” she told People. “We’re living very, very happy moments. Life is worth living—that’s what’s so wonderful.”
She believes her story can now give others hope.
“You can fall in love at any age. Everything is possible,” she told CBS Sunday Morning. “That, too, is a message of hope, to tell yourself that nothing is lost in life.”