"The scar is there, and it may never fully heal": Gisele Pelicot reflects on moving forward in new memoir following historic sexual assault case

Gisele Pelicot, who in 2024 faced 50 men in court after her husband drugged her and enabled their sexual assaults, chronicles her journey from betrayal to survival in a new memoir.

The French retiree exclusively released an excerpt of her upcoming memoir, A Hymn to Life: Shame Has to Change Sides, to People magazine on Feb. 15, in which she details surviving one of France's most shocking sexual assault cases and finding joy again after the ordeal. She told the outlet:

"The scar is there, and it may never fully heal. But I've always been a very optimistic woman. I wanted to take all of that mud and bring color back into my life... I believe in happiness."

The book, set to debut on Feb. 17 under Penguin Press, comes a year after all 50 of her husband Dominique's co-defendants have been convicted. The latter received a sentence of 20 years in prison.

In September 2020, Dominique, Gisele Pelicot's husband for about 50 years, was apprehended after a security guard caught him filming up the skirts of women at a supermarket.

Authorities then discovered the horrendous folder, titled "Abuses," in his computer, containing sexual assaults committed against his wife.

Later, it was revealed that from 2011 to 2020, Dominique had been drugging Gisele with sleeping pills and tranquilizers to make her unconscious, and he would invite men on the internet to r*pe her while being recorded.

Refusing anonymity, which is usually granted to r*pe victims, the mass trial was held in September 2024 in Avignon, France. That December, the court finally delivered its verdict.

Meanwhile, in October 2025, appeal trials kicked off for the defendants contesting their convictions.

Gisele Pelicot recounts moment she uncovered ex-husband Dominique Pelicot's years-long assault scheme

In the excerpt of Gisele Pelicot's A Hymn to Life: Shame Has to Change Sides, she starts narrating how her former spouse's years of abuse were discovered.

"'I am going to show you some photographs and videos that you are not going to like.' I sensed something rising in his voice — not only embarrassment, but a curious mix of danger and protectiveness. He told me that Dominique had been taken into custody for aggravated r*pe and for administering toxic substances. I think I burst into tears. He picked up a photograph and held it out to me. A woman in a [garter] belt lying on her side. A man behind her, penetrating her.'"

Gisele Pelicot writes how she was in disbelief, thinking that the unconscious woman in the photo was a photoshopped image of her, and that someone was trying to besmirch Dominique.

"'The officer says a number. He tells me 53 men had come to my house to r*pe me. I ask for water. My mouth is paralyzed. A psychologist comes into the office. A young woman. I don't need her. I am far away, even though we are in the same room. I am secure in my happiness, our happiness. Our 50th wedding anniversary is coming up, and the memory of how we met is still clear in my mind. His smile. His shy expression. His long, curly hair falling to his shoulders. He was going to love me. My brain shut down in Deputy Sergeant Perret's office.'"

For a decade, as she chronicles in her book, she went to a series of medical examinations due to constant blackouts, growing health concerns, and memory lapses. But Dominique had dismissed her worries each time.

"'How to describe my fear of dying, the 12 kilos I'd lost, the multiple gynecologists and neurologists I had consulted, the inconclusive brain scan? How to explain that I had no idea that someone could love another and yet cause them so much pain? How, simply, to explain who I was? For 50 years, I had tried to find myself in a man's eyes. And he in mine — until he tried to extinguish them.'"

Meanwhile, ahead of the trial, Gisele Pelicot met a man and fell for him. She details that her "faith in people" remains despite what happened.

"'I was lightheaded with happiness. I needed to love again. I wasn’t afraid… I am not dead. I still have faith in people. Once, that was my greatest weakness. Now it is my strength. My revenge.'"

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