Oprah and Caroline Darian: First Us Interview Since Her Father Dominique Pelicot’s Shocking Trial
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What is the shocking story behind Caroline Darian's family tragedy?
Thank you all for joining me on the Oprah podcast for this special episode. Before we start, it's important for those of you listening or watching to know that this conversation is around sexual assault, and it may be very challenging to hear. And most importantly, this is absolutely not an appropriate conversation for young children. So today I'm speaking with Caroline Darion, who traveled here to California from her home just outside of Paris. And this is her first American interview. In 2020, 67-year-old Dominique Pellicot, reportedly a devoted grandfather, father, and husband, was arrested near where he lived in the south of France. He was caught filming up women's skirts at a supermarket.
He was released while awaiting charges. Police seized Dominique's two phones, a camera, and a video recorder, plus several other devices from the home he shared with Giselle, his wife of nearly 50 years. Dominique Pellico confessed to his wife Giselle about that supermarket incident, but nothing could prepare her for what was to come. Giselle and Dominique were then summoned to the local police station, she assumed to discuss her husband's case. Instead, police privately informed Giselle that for nearly a decade, her husband had been recording her on his devices and drugging and raping her. During that time, Dominique had also invited more than 70 local men, strangers he recruited from chat rooms on the internet to rape his wife as she lay unconscious. He stood by and filmed it all. In total, police discovered more than 20,000 photos and videos on Dominique's devices. in a folder labeled Abuse.
After Giselle met with Felice, she called her three grown children, Caroline, David, and Florian, to tell them the shocking truth about the father they thought they knew. Caroline courageously shares her family's unimaginable ordeal in her gripping memoir, I'll Never Call Him Dad Again. So welcome, Caroline. Thank you for having me here today. You traveled 24 hours to get here to do this interview. So I deeply, deeply appreciate that. I have to say, reading your book, I Will Never Call Him Dad Again, was... What is the word? It was shocking and it was infuriating and so, so, so, so disturbing. And so many unimaginable occurrences. I mean, just unimaginable. And every time I turn the page, I'd say, it can't get worse.
And then it would get worse. And then I heard that you said that this was... Writing of this story was an opportunity for you to actually state a way of surviving for yourself. And my intention is to invite everyone who hears us to learn something as a society so that in Caroline's mother's words, shame must change sides. And reading your book, as I was saying, I kept thinking it can't get worse. And every time it did. I have to say I am in awe of your courage. I think a statue should be built in honor of your mother. I think what she has done for women in the world, regardless of what kind of challenge or difficulty or atrocities that women have been through, that her being able to stand up for the Pelican name
gives the opportunity for every other woman to look inside herself and stand up. And I think for you, Caroline, to be willing to speak the truth of your life and this horrific story is just an act of victory and triumph, and it shows that you are a mighty woman. You are a mighty woman, and so is your mother. So I thank you for writing this book. I mean, I can't imagine. Well, I actually can imagine because in the telling of the story, you tell us how many times you had a breakdown. But you say that for you, this became a question of survival.
Thank you so much, Oprah. I'm really touched by your words. I really wanted to write down this story because I wanted to... to show to the many people that whatever you live in your family, you are not, you know, responsible of what happened.
Yeah.
And there's always something more positive to share with the people
the more vulnerable people so i wanted i really wanted to make something useful and to go beyond you know this uh terrible legacy yeah well four years ago let's go back to four years ago you were living a life that you called a simple and ordinary life uh i know many women around the world can relate to this and certainly here in the united states you had a home in the suburbs
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