Caroline Darian's Silent Struggle: Seeking Justice Beyond Her Mother's Conviction

Caroline Darian, daughter of Gisèle Pelicot, faces her personal pain as her father and 50 men are convicted for raping her mother, revealing her own traumatic experiences in search of justice.

In a trial that transfixed the nation, 51 men, including Dominique Pelicot, were convicted of raping his wife, Gisèle Pelicot, making her a symbol of the feminist movement in France. Amid the tumult of public support and acknowledgment for her mother, Caroline Darian was left grappling with her own past, feeling invisible in a moment so deeply rooted in familial violence.

During the chaotic aftermath outside the Avignon courthouse, where crowds rallied in support of the Pelicot women, Caroline found herself isolated by despair rather than uplifted by the collective call for justice. At 46, she has now voiced the anguish that her own experiences have wrought. “My case, in that court, it was like it didn’t exist,” Darian reflects during an interview in Paris, lamenting the lack of recognition for what she endured at the hands of the same man who assaulted her mother.

While the trial scrutinized the decade-long torment inflicted upon Gisèle—highlighting the horrifying manipulation that led to her public victimization—Caroline was left with unaddressed questions about her own alleged abuse. Feeling that her father was not held accountable for allegations against her, she shares an unsettling truth: “Dominique was not tried for what he did to his daughter.”

Despite her mother’s brave advocacy, Caroline instead felt more deeply wounded than healed. Instead of closure, she carries with her the weight of unanswered questions about her father's actions. As the legal system turned its focus to her mother’s suffering, Caroline continues to navigate her silent struggle, seeking recognition, validation, and her own version of justice in a narrative that all but overshadowed her plight.