Caroline Darian
Appearances
The Oprah Podcast
Oprah and Caroline Darian: First Us Interview Since Her Father Dominique Pelicot’s Shocking Trial
You know, even my mother told to the police station, to the policeman, that he was a great guy before, you know, discovering the truth and the reality of his real personality. And the fact is that we lived with him, a side of him, without knowing, you know, we knew his face, A. Because I think there's two faces within Dominique Pellico.
The Oprah Podcast
Oprah and Caroline Darian: First Us Interview Since Her Father Dominique Pelicot’s Shocking Trial
Face A, which is a good guy, a good neighbor, a good husband, a good parent.
The Oprah Podcast
Oprah and Caroline Darian: First Us Interview Since Her Father Dominique Pelicot’s Shocking Trial
And another one, which is a real manipulator. And he was doing, you know, he was coexisting with these two faces at home and we never saw... So he would dote on your mother, he would make meals for her, he would always, when he was around you... He was really protective with her, he was, you know... They were really, really close from each other. And so we never saw him.
The Oprah Podcast
Oprah and Caroline Darian: First Us Interview Since Her Father Dominique Pelicot’s Shocking Trial
I never saw my dad stare at a woman. I never saw my dad, you know, having a strange behavior with some woman. Or even seem interested in other women.
The Oprah Podcast
Oprah and Caroline Darian: First Us Interview Since Her Father Dominique Pelicot’s Shocking Trial
Never, never, ever.
The Oprah Podcast
Oprah and Caroline Darian: First Us Interview Since Her Father Dominique Pelicot’s Shocking Trial
He was really... He was taking care of me. He was close to me. He used to bring me to school to encourage me, you know, within my studies. We used to get a lot of conversation, different kind of conversation. I thought he was a good father. But in the end... You know, I know now, since 42 years old, that he's probably one of the most important sexual criminals in France.
The Oprah Podcast
Oprah and Caroline Darian: First Us Interview Since Her Father Dominique Pelicot’s Shocking Trial
I think she leaves a kind of a disassociation.
The Oprah Podcast
Oprah and Caroline Darian: First Us Interview Since Her Father Dominique Pelicot’s Shocking Trial
Me, I live kind of a post-traumatic stress disorder.
The Oprah Podcast
Oprah and Caroline Darian: First Us Interview Since Her Father Dominique Pelicot’s Shocking Trial
They had to show me two pictures of me, almost naked with a paint, a beige paint, which is not mine, laying on the left side like my mom. She is on almost all the photographs and videos. And I had to recognize myself. At first, you didn't recognize yourself. It was so difficult to me to realize that he did what he did. To your mother? To my mother, but also to me, you know?
The Oprah Podcast
Oprah and Caroline Darian: First Us Interview Since Her Father Dominique Pelicot’s Shocking Trial
I don't have any recollection of where those pictures were taken. That day, I mean, it was November the 3rd. So the day after her revelation with my mom. So almost 24 hours after. And I had to sue my father because I saw myself. But it took me like a... 15 minutes to realize that it was me on those two different pictures. They got at two different places with another paint, which is not mine.
The Oprah Podcast
Oprah and Caroline Darian: First Us Interview Since Her Father Dominique Pelicot’s Shocking Trial
So I live like a tsunami because I realized that my mom was not the only victim of this family.
The Oprah Podcast
Oprah and Caroline Darian: First Us Interview Since Her Father Dominique Pelicot’s Shocking Trial
Yes. To me, I saw this woman on those two photographs, and I'm deeply convinced that first, I'm drugged, and then that he probably raped me.
The Oprah Podcast
Oprah and Caroline Darian: First Us Interview Since Her Father Dominique Pelicot’s Shocking Trial
He denies raping you. He denies. And over those past four years, and even during this trial, he refused to tell the truth. And he said a different version. But we don't know the main reason why he took those pictures.
The Oprah Podcast
Oprah and Caroline Darian: First Us Interview Since Her Father Dominique Pelicot’s Shocking Trial
He said that he didn't remember taking those two pictures. Oh.
The Oprah Podcast
Oprah and Caroline Darian: First Us Interview Since Her Father Dominique Pelicot’s Shocking Trial
He said that it's not me. On the photographs, he said that he never touched me. He never raped me. He never drugged me. But there are those two pictures. You know what I mean?
The Oprah Podcast
Oprah and Caroline Darian: First Us Interview Since Her Father Dominique Pelicot’s Shocking Trial
The pictures were in a file labeled... My daughter naked. They found that those two photographs... which was deleted two months before he was arrested through this IT expertise.
The Oprah Podcast
Oprah and Caroline Darian: First Us Interview Since Her Father Dominique Pelicot’s Shocking Trial
And the two sister-in-laws, he had been taking pictures, nude pictures of them coming out of the shower or... In their own bedroom, even when one of my sister-in-laws was pregnant, you know. And none of the women of this family were spared.
The Oprah Podcast
Oprah and Caroline Darian: First Us Interview Since Her Father Dominique Pelicot’s Shocking Trial
She was kind of locked in the silence. She was not able to support or even to help me. And I think that's, you know, the consequences of this post-traumatic stress disorder. She was not able to help me even to believe me, you know.
The Oprah Podcast
Oprah and Caroline Darian: First Us Interview Since Her Father Dominique Pelicot’s Shocking Trial
Because she wasn't at the police station with me at that time. So, and my brother had to tell her, but man, it's really Caroline on those two photographs. But, you know, she was, she was lost.
The Oprah Podcast
Oprah and Caroline Darian: First Us Interview Since Her Father Dominique Pelicot’s Shocking Trial
You know, I think she's... It's difficult for her and for her mom to realize that you were not protective enough. I mean, that you did not protect your daughter in your own family. I think it's a difficult ordeal to face for her.
The Oprah Podcast
Oprah and Caroline Darian: First Us Interview Since Her Father Dominique Pelicot’s Shocking Trial
Um... But we are in a different position. I mean, for her, I think it's probably easier to consider that she is the only victim of Dominique. Because, you know, she decided to live with him. He was her husband. But, you know, realizing that he might have, you know, sexually abused her. her daughter, I think it's impossible for her. It's kind of an auto-protection process.
The Oprah Podcast
Oprah and Caroline Darian: First Us Interview Since Her Father Dominique Pelicot’s Shocking Trial
You know, we have to live our, you know, reconstruction differently. And from, I mean, separately. Still, I mean, she, I understood that she is not able to realize and I have to respect that. Because, you know, I don't have any father, but I still have a mother. Mm-hmm.
The Oprah Podcast
Oprah and Caroline Darian: First Us Interview Since Her Father Dominique Pelicot’s Shocking Trial
I felt abandoned like an orphan. Abandoned by my father because it was the worst betrayal ever. You know, discovering that you don't know who you raised you.
The Oprah Podcast
Oprah and Caroline Darian: First Us Interview Since Her Father Dominique Pelicot’s Shocking Trial
And I felt alone about myself, you know, without any support from my mom because she was unable to be there for me. So it's a lot of loneliness.
The Oprah Podcast
Oprah and Caroline Darian: First Us Interview Since Her Father Dominique Pelicot’s Shocking Trial
Almost 72 hours.
The Oprah Podcast
Oprah and Caroline Darian: First Us Interview Since Her Father Dominique Pelicot’s Shocking Trial
So that I can sleep. But you know, the word thing that they had to sedate me you know, at the hospital for me being able to sleep. And this was exactly, you know, the modus operandi that my dad used, you know, to rape my mom and me. And, you know, I was in the hospital, you know, amongst different GPs and so on. And I realized that the only way to
The Oprah Podcast
Oprah and Caroline Darian: First Us Interview Since Her Father Dominique Pelicot’s Shocking Trial
care of me, to take care of me was to sedate me and to give me some pills, some sleeping pills. Yes. So which was, you know, like quite... Also triggering. Triggering. Yes, yes. And so I was there and I realized that there are no real support from, you know, the victims who are suffering from chemical submission.
The Oprah Podcast
Oprah and Caroline Darian: First Us Interview Since Her Father Dominique Pelicot’s Shocking Trial
We need to get a special support in that case. So it was really tough for me.
The Oprah Podcast
Oprah and Caroline Darian: First Us Interview Since Her Father Dominique Pelicot’s Shocking Trial
It's the worst case in France, and even the policemen didn't see that kind of story before. Yes.
The Oprah Podcast
Oprah and Caroline Darian: First Us Interview Since Her Father Dominique Pelicot’s Shocking Trial
Never, never, ever.
The Oprah Podcast
Oprah and Caroline Darian: First Us Interview Since Her Father Dominique Pelicot’s Shocking Trial
Yes, they were like the good men, the good neighbor. The good neighbors. They were well inserted within the society. They were some job with some role and responsibilities. They were a dad, grandfather, and all of that.
The Oprah Podcast
Oprah and Caroline Darian: First Us Interview Since Her Father Dominique Pelicot’s Shocking Trial
Yes. And he came several times. He came seven times.
The Oprah Podcast
Oprah and Caroline Darian: First Us Interview Since Her Father Dominique Pelicot’s Shocking Trial
Seven times.
The Oprah Podcast
Oprah and Caroline Darian: First Us Interview Since Her Father Dominique Pelicot’s Shocking Trial
That's a miracle.
The Oprah Podcast
Oprah and Caroline Darian: First Us Interview Since Her Father Dominique Pelicot’s Shocking Trial
None of these men.
The Oprah Podcast
Oprah and Caroline Darian: First Us Interview Since Her Father Dominique Pelicot’s Shocking Trial
She had some gynecologist troubles.
The Oprah Podcast
Oprah and Caroline Darian: First Us Interview Since Her Father Dominique Pelicot’s Shocking Trial
But, you know, as a GP, when you saw a woman who is 78 years old, You don't even think about that.
The Oprah Podcast
Oprah and Caroline Darian: First Us Interview Since Her Father Dominique Pelicot’s Shocking Trial
No, he was not able to do that, but he did. And, you know, I was so angry. You know, the anger that I feel toward him is so hard. I mean, it's so strong. Yeah. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.
The Oprah Podcast
Oprah and Caroline Darian: First Us Interview Since Her Father Dominique Pelicot’s Shocking Trial
Thank you.
The Oprah Podcast
Oprah and Caroline Darian: First Us Interview Since Her Father Dominique Pelicot’s Shocking Trial
Thank you very much.
The Oprah Podcast
Oprah and Caroline Darian: First Us Interview Since Her Father Dominique Pelicot’s Shocking Trial
Thank you. Thank you.
The Oprah Podcast
Oprah and Caroline Darian: First Us Interview Since Her Father Dominique Pelicot’s Shocking Trial
Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.
The Oprah Podcast
Oprah and Caroline Darian: First Us Interview Since Her Father Dominique Pelicot’s Shocking Trial
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.
The Oprah Podcast
Oprah and Caroline Darian: First Us Interview Since Her Father Dominique Pelicot’s Shocking Trial
Thank you.
The Oprah Podcast
Oprah and Caroline Darian: First Us Interview Since Her Father Dominique Pelicot’s Shocking Trial
Thank you.
The Oprah Podcast
Oprah and Caroline Darian: First Us Interview Since Her Father Dominique Pelicot’s Shocking Trial
And there's always something more positive to share with the people
The Oprah Podcast
Oprah and Caroline Darian: First Us Interview Since Her Father Dominique Pelicot’s Shocking Trial
He didn't say anything. Oh, okay. Anything. So I will have to live with that doubt all my life.
The Oprah Podcast
Oprah and Caroline Darian: First Us Interview Since Her Father Dominique Pelicot’s Shocking Trial
Thank you, Jenny. Thank you so much. It's really important to get your testimonial and to make understand that The case of my mom and our family is not an isolated one and I'm really grateful. Thank you so much. Thank you.
The Oprah Podcast
Oprah and Caroline Darian: First Us Interview Since Her Father Dominique Pelicot’s Shocking Trial
I used to say that I had a quite normal life, you know, banal life. I was the daughter of my two parents, beloved parents, who were so close from each other. We were really a united family. I was also, but I'm still close from my two brothers, David and Florian. And... We were living in a normal life. We were so happy. I thought that I had a solid, cheerful, protective and reassuring dad.
The Oprah Podcast
Oprah and Caroline Darian: First Us Interview Since Her Father Dominique Pelicot’s Shocking Trial
The other thing for us, your children, is to admit that you never knew who you were. You, from where we thought a good, honest, loyal man, betrayed us, shouldn't have sacrificed us to your dark side, thinking you were smart enough to play by your own rules and not get caught.
The Oprah Podcast
Oprah and Caroline Darian: First Us Interview Since Her Father Dominique Pelicot’s Shocking Trial
I keep telling myself that you must have lost all love and respect for us along, long time ago, in order to be able to inflict such horrors upon us. You demolished the one family you had, giving no thought to how much we might prize it. I loved you and respected you. I helped you as any daughter would have who felt grateful towards her father. You never kept us your end of the bargain.
The Oprah Podcast
Oprah and Caroline Darian: First Us Interview Since Her Father Dominique Pelicot’s Shocking Trial
You refused to be a real father or grandfather. I'll never be able to forgive you. And that's just something I have to learn to live with.
The Oprah Podcast
Oprah and Caroline Darian: First Us Interview Since Her Father Dominique Pelicot’s Shocking Trial
I'm fighting. You know, I threw my body and soul into this fight against chemical submission. And to me, it's become, I think, one of the most important missions of my life. I needed to make something more noble.
The Oprah Podcast
Oprah and Caroline Darian: First Us Interview Since Her Father Dominique Pelicot’s Shocking Trial
The mission is to drive awareness about this health public issue. And the mission is to say to all the victims, all the invisible victims, to speak up and to let them know that they have to come forward because there will be a listen to, but also believe because it's really important for them to know that. And to be supportive.
The Oprah Podcast
Oprah and Caroline Darian: First Us Interview Since Her Father Dominique Pelicot’s Shocking Trial
And one of the most biggest tasks that we have, you know, with our charity is to make understand to the government, but also to the health professional that they have a key role to play.
The Oprah Podcast
Oprah and Caroline Darian: First Us Interview Since Her Father Dominique Pelicot’s Shocking Trial
they have to be trained to better detect and identify those cases.
The Oprah Podcast
Oprah and Caroline Darian: First Us Interview Since Her Father Dominique Pelicot’s Shocking Trial
Blackouts, amnesia, weight loss, hair loss. Yeah. Because there are so many consequences when you are a victim of chemical submission. You can get traffic accidents, unwanted pregnancies. Yes. Addiction and so on, you know. Yeah. So it's really important to really raise awareness about this...
The Oprah Podcast
Oprah and Caroline Darian: First Us Interview Since Her Father Dominique Pelicot’s Shocking Trial
And we would have never known.
The Oprah Podcast
Oprah and Caroline Darian: First Us Interview Since Her Father Dominique Pelicot’s Shocking Trial
I thought also that they were happy together. They lived together for about 50 years. Mm-hmm. And yes, I had a husband. I used to work. I had a great job.
The Oprah Podcast
Oprah and Caroline Darian: First Us Interview Since Her Father Dominique Pelicot’s Shocking Trial
I'm a positive woman and I'm an active woman. So one of the things which really helped me to go beyond is really the engagement that I have with this charity. But, you know, I had a chance to get really well supported by my husband and by my son. And today, what's the most important thing to me is really my own family. Mm-hmm. Because, you know, the one that I had before, it's over.
The Oprah Podcast
Oprah and Caroline Darian: First Us Interview Since Her Father Dominique Pelicot’s Shocking Trial
So one of the most important things and precious things to me is really my husband and my son and also all of my friends.
The Oprah Podcast
Oprah and Caroline Darian: First Us Interview Since Her Father Dominique Pelicot’s Shocking Trial
She is a strong woman. She's an independent woman. She is well supported by, you know, her friends and family. Do you all talk about this? Yes, we talked about this. How does she feel about this book? She read this book and she wasn't really comfortable right from the start, but she understood also that, you know, it was really important to me.
The Oprah Podcast
Oprah and Caroline Darian: First Us Interview Since Her Father Dominique Pelicot’s Shocking Trial
I think this terrible story split our teasing too.
The Oprah Podcast
Oprah and Caroline Darian: First Us Interview Since Her Father Dominique Pelicot’s Shocking Trial
And so my mom and me, we are now rebuilding from our side because I can't think we can help each other.
The Oprah Podcast
Oprah and Caroline Darian: First Us Interview Since Her Father Dominique Pelicot’s Shocking Trial
I just want them to know that they can speak up, speak out. And they also have to trust themselves. Know that... They are precious.
The Oprah Podcast
Oprah and Caroline Darian: First Us Interview Since Her Father Dominique Pelicot’s Shocking Trial
Yeah, because we were in the middle of the lockdown. Yes, yes. And yes, we were just preparing our son with my husband to go back to school and... And that day, November the 2nd, 2020, all my life and my childhood, in a way, collapsed. Because I thought I knew my dad. So it started with a phone call. And it started with a phone call the evening of November the 2nd.
The Oprah Podcast
Oprah and Caroline Darian: First Us Interview Since Her Father Dominique Pelicot’s Shocking Trial
Their voices are really precious. And this is only altogether, whatever is in France, in Europe, or even in the U.S., you know, thanks to Eugenie's testimony, that we have to make things change.
The Oprah Podcast
Oprah and Caroline Darian: First Us Interview Since Her Father Dominique Pelicot’s Shocking Trial
So I just wanted to say to all of the invisible victims that they have to come forward and to speak up.
The Oprah Podcast
Oprah and Caroline Darian: First Us Interview Since Her Father Dominique Pelicot’s Shocking Trial
And I remembered I'd worked all day from home because we were in the middle of the lockdown. And I received this call from my mom and I thought that... Everything was OK. And she told me, you have to sit down, Caroline, because I had to get to say something really difficult to say over the phone. So you have to sit down and I just want to be sure you are not alone and you are with your husband.
The Oprah Podcast
Oprah and Caroline Darian: First Us Interview Since Her Father Dominique Pelicot’s Shocking Trial
And she told me, I just discovered this morning at the police station where I stayed overnight. almost five hours, that your dad used to drug me before I was raped. And I was raped by a dozen and dozen strangers, unknown people. And at this time, you know what? I still remember, you know, this tipping point of my life
The Oprah Podcast
Oprah and Caroline Darian: First Us Interview Since Her Father Dominique Pelicot’s Shocking Trial
I saw I still saw on the clock on the oven, you know, that is 25 past eight in the evening. And that everything changed in a second. And I just realized that my life will never be the same.
The Oprah Podcast
Oprah and Caroline Darian: First Us Interview Since Her Father Dominique Pelicot’s Shocking Trial
I screamed a lot. I cried a lot. But I, you know, instinctively understood what I saw. Over the past years, when my mom, you know, had this incoherent behavior, she was talking in a strange way. You would see lapses in her memory. Yeah, with lapses in the memories. Like, you know, she was doing amnesia. She didn't remember some of our conversation about the phone the day before.
The Oprah Podcast
Oprah and Caroline Darian: First Us Interview Since Her Father Dominique Pelicot’s Shocking Trial
You know, so I told, straight away, I told her, but mom... This is the main reason why you are like this. Because you were drugged. You were a drugman. And this is the way you found out.
The Oprah Podcast
Oprah and Caroline Darian: First Us Interview Since Her Father Dominique Pelicot’s Shocking Trial
Yeah. And this morning of November the 2nd, they have to tell my mom that he was arrested and that... The way you describe it in the book is so really incredible.
The Oprah Podcast
Oprah and Caroline Darian: First Us Interview Since Her Father Dominique Pelicot’s Shocking Trial
Yeah, they show her seven different photographs with seven different men where she was abused. And what is in those photographs, Caroline? You saw my mom drugged, being raped by different men each time. And they have to tell her that there's so many others. There's pictures, photographs, but also videos.
The Oprah Podcast
Oprah and Caroline Darian: First Us Interview Since Her Father Dominique Pelicot’s Shocking Trial
Some of them went several times. Some of them went only one time. But my mom was raped more than 200 times. She was raped more than 200 times during 10 years.
The Oprah Podcast
Oprah and Caroline Darian: First Us Interview Since Her Father Dominique Pelicot’s Shocking Trial
My father was used to use some prescription. Prescription drugs, yes. Medicine coming from the family cabinet medicine. It was sedatives, anxiolytics, or even, you know, painkillers.
The Oprah Podcast
Oprah and Caroline Darian: First Us Interview Since Her Father Dominique Pelicot’s Shocking Trial
And we were using those medicines, you know, within the food, even within a glass of wine.
The Oprah Podcast
Oprah and Caroline Darian: First Us Interview Since Her Father Dominique Pelicot’s Shocking Trial
He was mixing, you know, all of these substances.
The Oprah Podcast
Oprah and Caroline Darian: First Us Interview Since Her Father Dominique Pelicot’s Shocking Trial
Yeah, and he also gave those, I was going to say, a recipe, you know, to some other men and they replicated the same, you know, process.