It took almost thirty years for the truth to come to light. Thursday January 7, 2021, La Familia Grande will be released in bookstores. But Camille Kouchner's book has already been on the front page of all the media for several days. And for good reason: the revelations made there are most chilling. The 45-year-old lawyer denounces the incest and sexual assaults of which her stepfather, Olivier Duhamel, is alleged to have been guilty. For more than two years at the end of the 1980s, the famous political scientist allegedly subjected “blowjobs ” to his twin brother (renamed Victor to remain anonymous) when he was only 13 years old. But La Familia Grande, it is also and above all the story of a heavy family secret that everyone has chosen to ignore. As Camille Kouchner reveals over the pages, many of Olivier Duhamel's entourage knew about the rape and decided to protect him for years. A "real omerta ” that the author decided to break with the publication of her book, although she knows full well that the facts are now time barred.
Evelyne Pisier chose to protect her husband Olivier Duhamel
This is particularly the case of his wife Evelyne Pisier, the mother of the Kouchner siblings, who died in 2017. It was between 2008 and 2009 that she was informed of the family tragedy. To take stock of this terrible discovery, Olivier Duhamel's wife left for a few days to take refuge with her younger sister, actress Marie-France Pisier. But this secret will literally destroy the relationship (yet so fusional) between the two women. Because the mother of Julien, Camille and “Victor” Kouchner finally decides not to say anything and therefore to protect the reputation of her husband. A reaction that her little sister did not understand at all. “As soon as she found out about Olivier, Marie-France spoke to everyone. She wanted to hide him”, explains Camille Kouchner to World, Monday January 4. What confirms Marie-France Pisier's daughter, Iris Funck-Brentano: “My mother was very shocked that her sister did not protect her children first and that no one reacted.”The two sisters will never be reconciled, since the actress was found dead (presumably suicide) in 2011.
When Evelyne Pisier made her daughter Camille Kouchner feel guilty
Upon learning that her children had revealed the secret to family and friends, Evelyne Pisier – who had become an alcoholic since the suicide of both her parents – became very angry. “Bastards! You threw it all away! I hate your perversity. Everyone by now will know”, she would have launched, as reported by our colleagues from Parisian Wednesday January 6. And Bernard Kouchner's ex-wife would even have tried to clear Olivier Duhamel by finding excuses : “He's sorry, you know. He keeps torturing himself ”,“ Olivier thought about it, you must have been over 15 already ”,“ Your brother was never forced ”, she would have declared according to her former best friend, whose words were revealed by The world.
“Evelyne was weak, she couldn't blame her first support: her husband. A culprit was needed, it was his daughter ”, says a relative of the family. This will be confirmed by Camille Kouchner herself, in the columns of The Obs : “I was surprised at my mother's violence, her denial. This violence has locked me in silence, even more. (…) I was responsible for betraying her because I should have told her everything. I was responsible for not protecting my brother. But I was also responsible for asking my brother to speak to him, after many years… In his eyes, I was responsible for everything. "
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