Gisèle Pelicot, the woman at the centre of France's largest rape trial, says she intends to visit her ex-husband in jail and look her abuser "straight in the eye" to get answers to other allegations under investigation.
WARNING: This story contains details of sexual abuse.
Ms Pelicot became a global icon in the fight against sexual violence in 2024 during the trial of her ex-husband, Dominique Pelicot, and dozens of strangers who raped her while she was unconscious.
Mr Pelicot received the maximum sentence of 20 years for drugging and raping his then-wife for almost a decade, inviting others to sexually assault her, and meticulously documenting the abuse in files on his computer.
Fifty other men were also all found guilty and sentenced to between three and 15 years in prison on various charges including rape, attempted rape and sexual assault.
Eleven other men who allegedly assaulted Ms Pelicot remain unidentified.
Ms Pelicot has since written a memoir, A Hymn to Life, which is due to be released on February 17.
In her memoir, Ms Pelicot writes about her intention to visit her ex-husband and abuser in prison in a bid to get answers to other allegations under investigation.
"I need to meet him to have answers," Ms Pelicot told the BBC in an in-depth interview ahead of the book's publication.
"I don't know if I will, but I need to look at him straight in the eye."
Allegations under investigation
Mr Pelicot is under investigation for the rape and murder of a woman in Paris in 1991 and an attempted rape in a suburb of the capital in 1999 — two cold cases that investigators re-opened.
He has also been accused of rape by his daughter, Caroline Darian, after sexualised photos of her were found on his computer. He denies this.
As well as the BBC interview, Ms Pelicot has also done an extensive sit-down interview with The New York Times, and reiterated her intention to visit her abuser.
"I hope that when we're face to face, he'll be able to tell me the truth, both about his daughter and about everything else he's now accused of," she said.
"Maybe he'll have some remorse. I'm still holding on to that hope. Maybe I'm naïve, maybe I won't get an answer.
"But I hope I'll be able to get the answers he was unable to provide in front of Avignon's criminal court. Maybe he'll say, 'I need to free my conscience.' That's why I want to go."
Ms Pelicot acknowledged it will be another "difficult moment".
"I've never set foot inside a prison. I imagine he must be in solitary confinement. I imagine he has changed a lot," she said.
"But he's there because he did what he did. It's not as if he was sent there by accident. But I do hope he'll have some remorse.
"If he's actually capable of it — and that, I don't know."
Moving forward
In her memoir, Ms Pelicot discusses how her relationship with her daughter became strained as the allegations came to light and throughout the months-long trial.
"Suffering doesn't necessarily bring a family together," Ms Pelicot told The New York Times.
"You need to understand, it's like an explosion that blows everything away.
"We try to recover, each in our own way and in our own time."
Ms Pelicot said she and her daughter talked on the phone "almost every day now".
"What she wants is to be recognised as a victim, because today, she's not officially a victim."
Ms Pelicot has since found love in the four years between her abuser's arrest and the trial, telling The New York Times: "I had never imagined falling in love again, or even that it could be something I would want".
"To me, it was impossible."
With the release of her memoir this week, Ms Pelicot told The New York Times she wanted readers to find her story "useful".
"When you hear the facts of the trial, you see this woman and wonder, how is she still standing?" she said.
"I needed to convey that I'm still a woman who stands tall."
ABC/AFP
