Gisele Pelicot: "I don’t want to be a victim anymore" - The Sunday Story
The Story
The Times
3.9 • 1.6K Ratings
🗓️ 31 May 2026
⏱️ 20 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Gisèle Pelicot has become a symbol of dignity, courage and defiance after waiving her anonymity and insisting her trial — in which dozens of men were accused of raping her while she was drugged unconscious by her husband — be held in public. In a rare interview, she speaks to Jane Garvey about why she no longer wants to be defined as a victim.
This episode originally aired on Off Air with Jane an Fi on 26th May 2026.
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Host: Jane Garvey
Producers: Dave Creasey, Eve Salusbury and Rosie Cutler.
Further reading: Gisèle Pelicot: Pornography is a scourge on childhood
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | From The Times and the Sunday Times, this is the story on Sunday. I'm Manvine Rano. |
| 0:10.6 | When Giselle Pellicoe walked into a courtroom in the south of France, she did something |
| 0:17.8 | extraordinarily rare among victims of sexual violence. She waved her anonymity |
| 0:24.3 | and insisted that the trial be held in public. The case in which dozens of men were accused of |
| 0:31.9 | raping her while she was unconscious after being drugged by her own husband, shocked France and made headlines |
| 0:40.6 | around the world. |
| 0:44.7 | It was that decision to be seen and named, and her insistence that the shame of these crimes |
| 0:51.3 | belonged to the perpetrators and not the victim that transformed |
| 0:55.9 | Giselle Pelico into a symbol of dignity, courage and defiance. Today, we bring you an interview |
| 1:05.7 | with her by Times Radio's Jane Garvey, featured on our sister podcast, Offair with Jane and Fee. |
| 1:16.1 | We have always got a very diverse range of interviews for you on this podcast, and today's is just extraordinary, Jane. |
| 1:27.3 | Well, I don't think there can be many more |
| 1:29.4 | famous women in the world right now than Giselle Pelico who has written this incredible memoir |
| 1:35.6 | which we have discussed quite a bit on the podcast and on the radio show as well because I |
| 1:40.5 | interviewed the two interpreters who translated him to life into English, |
| 1:45.7 | and we've also spoken to her lawyer. |
| 1:48.1 | So this was a fantastic opportunity to talk to Giselle, who is in London just for today, actually. |
| 1:55.3 | So she's doing a whole round of different interviews. |
| 1:57.7 | And we talked to her, I talked to her through an interpreter. And I know this is |
| 2:03.7 | going to say, I hope it doesn't sound fatuous, but I think if anyone is concerned about her, |
| 2:08.9 | worries that perhaps she is being asked to do too much, that this woman has been through hell |
| 2:14.9 | and is now being made to go through more hell. |
... |
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