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Caroline Darian, the daughter of serial rape victim Gisèle Pelicot, says she thinks her mother would “die” if she acknowledged that her daughter was also a potential victim of Dominique Pelicot.
Speaking at Hay Festival, the activist and author claimed that the denial of her mother, whom she no longer talks to, was an act of self-protection.
“She is not able to recognise that I probably was drugged by my father. It is a way for her to protect herself,” Darian said while in conversation with actor and presenter Jameela Jamil.
“Incest in France is taboo. And there are a lot of victims where it’s always the same situation. To recognise that your daughter, your son, is a victim – it’s quite difficult.
“I think my mum is not able to recognise it because, otherwise, I think she’s going to die.”
Dominique Pelicot was sentenced to the maximum sentence of 20 years in prison in 2024 after being found guilty of drugging his wife Gisèle multiple times over the course of a decade and both raping her and arranging for dozens of other men to rape her while he watched and filmed. A total of 51 men were convicted following France’s worst ever mass rape trial, which sent shockwaves around the world.
Gisèle waived her right to anonymity, telling media outlets after the verdicts: “I wanted... to ensure that society could see what was happening. I never have regretted this decision. I now have faith in our capacity to collectively take hold of a future in which everybody... can live together in harmony, respect, and mutual understanding.”
Darian claims to have also been a victim of chemical submission at the hands of her father, after being shown two pictures of her unconscious and “almost naked”, wearing underwear that was not her own.
“At the very beginning of the revelations, it was November (2020), I discovered some pictures of me, taken from my beloved father, where I’m totally sedated… He sedated me, like my mum. The main difference between my mum and me: my mum has all the evidence, all the proof of having been raped. But not me. I only have those pictures, almost naked, lying on the bed, with pants which are not mine.”
She added: “But I don’t know what’s happened before or after.” Darian claims the pictures of her had been shared online by her father, and she believes that she too was likely a victim of sexual abuse, something Dominique has always denied.
According to Darian, she feels like an “invisible victim” after the French legal system failed to recognise that she had been sedated by her father.
She and Gisèle “are not talking anymore”, Darian revealed in the interview, stating: “It’s difficult to talk about my mum.” She added that her mother is “going well, she’s well-supported, she’s writing”.
She needs to tell her own story,” Darian said, concluding by urging others to share their experiences of abuse.
“I’d like to help all victims, invisible victims, to have the courage to talk, and to share their stories,” she said. “Because every story, each of us, that’s how we’ll change the world. It’s not only one person. It’s all of us together.”
Darian has authored the book I’ll Never Call Him Dad Again about her experiences and founded the campaign “Don't Put Me Under: Stop Chemical Submission”.
