Gisèle Pelicot, the French woman whose husband was convicted of inviting dozens of men to rape her unconscious body, has released her memoir, recounting the horrors she endured and why she chose to go public in a trial that shocked the world. Released in 22 languages worldwide, “A Hymn to Life” sends a message of hope to victims of sexual violence.
Gisèle Pelicot’s memoir “A Hymn to Life” is published in 22 languages. © Sarah Meyssonnier, Reuters
Gisèle Pelicot’s memoir was released on Tuesday in 22 languages worldwide, sharing details of the horror she went through and sending a powerful message of hope and support to victims of sexual abuse.
“I wanted my story to help others,” Pelicot told French national channel France 5 last week ahead of the release of her book, “A Hymn to Life, Shame has to Change Sides.”
Pelicot recounted her story of survival in the book and in her first series of interviews since the landmark 2024 trial that turned her into a global icon against sexual violence and imprisoned her husband, who drugged her so other men could assault her.
“Today I’m doing better, and this book allowed me to engage in self-reflection, to take stock of my life,” she said. “I had to try to rebuild myself on this field of ruins. Today I am a woman standing strong.”
Pelicot said her book is meant to deliver “a message of hope to all the women who are going through a very complicated period in their lives.”
The shocking case – and Pelicot’s decision to waive her anonymity and speak publicly – prompted a reckoning over rape culture in France and beyond, as her dignity and strength impressed many across the world.
Gymnastic superstar and Olympic gold medalist Simone Biles, herself a survivor of sexual abuse, paid tribute to Pelicot in a message broadcast by the BBC.
“Gisèle has demonstrated to the world that it’s not for victims of sexual abuse to feel shame – it’s the perpetrators,” Biles said. “By waiving her anonymity and refusing to feel shame, Gisèle paves the way for other victims to come forward.”
At the “Des Femmes” (“Women’s”) bookstore in Paris, several readers were eager to buy Pelicot’s book on the day of its release.
“I want to read it,” said Cécile Megueulle, who admires Pelicot. “But I tell myself that reading it will be … actually a little scary. The fact of not being in her shoes but being able to see the other side of the mirror, how she experienced it and how she managed – I don’t know if we can say that – to get through it.”
Selma Memic, a lawyer from Geneva, Switzerland, said: “The case was known as the ‘Pelicot case’ … and now we’re going to hear about ‘Gisèle’. So, that’s maybe what I’m looking for. Who is Gisèle? What are her feelings? How does she look back at it (the trial)?”
In December 2024, Pelicot’s ex-husband, Dominique Pelicot, and 50 other men were convicted of sexually assaulting her between 2011 and 2020 while she was under chemical submission. He was sentenced to 20 years in prison, while the other defendants received sentences ranging from three to 15 years.
An appeals court later increased the sentence handed to Husamettin Dogan, a construction worker who was the only defendant who challenged his conviction.
Dominique Pelicot, whom Gisèle Pelicot had been married to for nearly 50 years, acknowledged that for years he mixed sedatives into her food and drink so he could rape her and invite other men to do the same.
The unprecedented trial exposed how online pornography, chat rooms and distorted notions of consent can fuel sexual violence.
France passed a law last October that defines rape and other sexual assault as any non-consensual sexual act in the wake of the Pelicot case, joining many other European nations that have similar consent-based laws, including neighbouring Germany, Belgium and Spain. Until then, rape under French law was defined as penetration or oral sex using “violence, coercion, threat or surprise.”
Gisèle Pelicot (French: born 7 December 1952) is a French woman who became a feminist icon in 2024, when she waived her right to anonymity as the victim in the Pelicot rape case.
Between 2011 and 2020, she had been drugged and raped by her husband Dominique and dozens of other men while she was unconscious, mostly in the couple’s home in Mazan. She only became aware of the abuse in 2020, when Dominique was arrested for upskirting women in a local supermarket and a police search of his computer equipment revealed images of her being raped.
The case attracted international media attention and Gisèle’s courage and determination to speak out on behalf of all victims of sexual assault won her international support and admiration. She later appeared in the BBC‘s 2024 100 Women and the Financial Times list of the twenty‑five most influential women of the year. She was appointed a knight of the Legion of Honour on Bastille Day (14 July 2025). In February 2026, she published a co-written memoir.
Gisèle Pelicot was born on 7 December 1952 in the city of Villingen, in the southern part of West Germany, where her father was serving in the French army. She arrived in France when she was five; her mother died of cancer when she was nine. In 1971, she met her future husband, Dominique Pelicot.[2] They married in April 1973 and lived in several places in the Paris metropolitan area.[3] A son, David, and a daughter, Caroline, were born in the early years of their marriage; they were followed by another son, Florian, born in 1986.
Gisèle worked in administration for the state electricity company. Dominique worked as an electrician and an estate agent, and also set up a number of businesses which ultimately failed.[5][6] It was Gisèle’s more stable career that maintained the family’s standard of living.[7] She had a three-year affair with a married colleague in the mid-1980s.[1][8][3] In 1990, Dominique in turn had an affair and lived with another woman for several months before the couple were reconciled and resumed their life together.
In 2001, Gisèle and Dominique divorced to protect their assets from Dominique’s creditors after his business failures.[3] They continued to live together and remarried in 2007.[4] In 2010, Dominique was caught upskirting women in a supermarket near Paris and accepted a €100 fine to avoid a court case. Gisèle remained unaware of the incident.
After retiring in 2013, the Pelicots moved to Mazan in southeastern France, renting a house with a garden and swimming pool.[6] Gisèle joined a choir, while Dominique joined the local tennis club and went out cycling.[5][10] During the summer holidays, they were joined by their children and grandchildren.