Rape survivor Pelicot tells Hay Festival how she found love again

Gisèle Pelicot, the woman at the centre of the biggest rape trial in French history, says she has found a way to trust again after her ordeal and fallen in love.

Her ex-husband, Dominique Pelicot, who is serving a 20-year jail sentence, drugged and raped her for more than a decade while allowing at least 70 men into their home to rape her as well.

The 73-year-old's decision to waive her right to anonymity as a survivor of sexual abuse sparked conversations about feminism globally.

Pelicot told the Hay Festival on Saturday that the shame should fall on her abusers, not her, and how she never thought she could trust a man again before meeting her partner, Jean-Loup Agopian.

"It’s something that I didn’t think, I didn’t think that could happen, especially at my age," the headliner of this year's arts and literary festival said.

"I didn’t really want to [fall in love], but life decided otherwise.

"We met, our trajectories crossed at one moment and I met this young man of 73.

"You see, you can fall in love at any age, it happened to me, it can happen to you, I’m convinced of it.

"I didn’t think that I’d be able to trust a man, but it’s what happened to me, so you see that everything can be allowed in life, you must never despair."

Pelicot appeared at the Hay Festival to discuss her memoir, A Hymn to Life, and was interviewed on stage by Baroness Helena Kennedy.

Asked if she was fearful for the future of women, she said: "I feel very serene about it because I think that we can all live together in harmony, men and women, and I think it's a question of educating our children very young.

"Maybe I'm a very optimistic person by nature, but I would hope that the human being will go towards peace and love."

She praised her daughter Caroline Darian's advocacy group M'endors pas, which campaigns against drug-facilitated sexual assault and supports victims of chemical submission.

Calling her daughter to join her on stage during a standing ovation, Pelicot said: "I'm really happy to share this exceptional moment with my daughter Caroline, who really fought on this.

"I'm really proud to be her mummy."