The daughter of the French Prime Minister has revealed that she was abused at school, and accused her father of ignoring the situation while serving as Minister of Education.
François Bayrou’s eldest daughter, Hélène Perlant, now 53, made the claims in a book set to be published on Thursday. According to French media, Bayrou only learned about the book on Tuesday, when his daughter informed him she had given an interview to Paris-Match about it.
Perlant said she did not tell her father at the time about the abuse she experienced as a student in the 1980s at Notre-Dame de Bétharram, a private Catholic school in the Pyrenees. Her mother, Élisabeth, taught religion there during the 1990s.
The Prime Minister has consistently insisted he was unaware of the widespread allegations of physical and sexual abuse at the school.
However, French media have questioned his denials, publishing interviews with witnesses who claim he ignored the accusations. A former math teacher said she had warned both Bayrou and his wife, but her account was dismissed.
Left-wing opposition MPs have called for Bayrou, 73, to resign, accusing him of misleading parliament over the scandal. State prosecutors are investigating him for failing to report the alleged abuse.
In her book Le Silence de Bétharram (The Silence of Bétharram), Perlant recounts being beaten at a summer camp.
“One night, as we were laying out our sleeping bags, Father Lartiguet [a priest and teacher who died in 2000] grabbed me by the hair, dragged me several meters, and punched and kicked me,” she told Paris-Match.
Bayrou was said to be “shocked” when he read the interview, a close source told Le Parisien. Prior to this, his daughter said: “He didn’t know I was a victim and didn’t know I would speak out as one.”
However, Le Parisien reports that he did know she had witnessed violence at the school, but he never spoke about it publicly.
When questioned by journalists about his daughter’s revelations, Bayrou initially declined to comment, but later said: “As a father, this breaks my heart… It’s almost unbearable.” He reiterated that he had no knowledge of the accusations, adding, “For me, the central issue is the silence that surrounded these acts.”
Her book appears to support his version of events, but more calls for his resignation are expected when Bayrou testifies under oath next month before a parliamentary committee investigating school violence.
Prosecutors are reviewing 200 complaints filed over the past year by former students who attended the school between 1957 and 2004. Ninety of those involve alleged sexual abuse, but most cases are unlikely to go to court due to France’s 20-year statute of limitations on such crimes.
So far, only one former staff member has been charged—with sexually harassing a 15-year-old in 2004 and raping a minor in the 1990s.
France has been slow to address sexual abuse, but the MeToo movement and the December conviction of Dominique Pelicot—who drugged his wife Gisèle and invited dozens of men to rape her—have brought greater urgency to the issue.
Two weeks ago, a parliamentary commission found after a six-month investigation that sexual violence in the arts was “systemic, endemic, and persistent” in France.
Actor Gérard Depardieu stood trial last month over alleged sexual harassment on a film set. He denies the charges. A verdict is expected in May.
