Around thirty women have accused Patrick Bruel of sexual assault, rape or attempted rape. Some filed complaints, leading to the opening of several investigations in France, but also in Belgium and Canada. The revelations of Flavie Flament, who claims to have been raped after drinking tea at the singer’s home when she was 16, gave particular resonance to this affair and contributed to freeing up more speech.
Today, even if Patrick Bruel remains presumed innocent, the repercussions are already significant. The one who would have admitted in private to being “died professionally” notably canceled its summer festival tour as well as several Parisian concerts. He also announced his temporary withdrawal from the Enfoirés troupe.
Why was Flavie Flament shocked by Patrick Bruel’s defense?
Despite the media storm, Patrick Bruel continues to contest the accusations against him. On social networks, he came out of silence to deny any rape and evoke a “episodic relationship” agreed with Flavie Flament. A version that the former host considers particularly offensive. After having already denounced defamation on RTL “terrible”she returned to the subject in the columns of ELLE this Thursday, June 4.
She explains that she expected to be attacked after speaking: “I expected the victims’ words to be discredited.” But she claims to have been shocked by the arguments used to discredit her. “The means used were particularly offensive. The implication that I had a relationship with a man who raped me when I was 16, that I consented to the tragedy I suffered… I did not imagine that we would resort to such vulgarity, such an offense, such an insult“she declared.
Despite this, she ensures that she remains calm about the rest of the procedure: “I let it pass, it’s the demonstration to the eyes of the world of what can be done to muzzle a victim. Either way, I have my truth, and it will be debated in court. In court, we have to prove what we say, and I am perfectly calm.”
Flavie Flament: her response to those who accuse her of being complicit with Patrick Bruel in her broadcasts
For several weeks, some have criticized Flavie Flament for having received Patrick Bruel in several of his shows throughout his career, and for appearing smiling at his side. For the former presenter of Télématinthese images in no way call into question his testimony. “I saw passages which betray a real malaiseand others where I did my job. I think I have spent a large part of my life and my career in an almost permanent state of dissociation.”she declared. In this same interview, she also returned to the context in which she was operating at the time of the facts she denounces.
While she was starting a career as a model, she believes she did not benefit from the protection that a teenager would have needed: “I was especially exploited by a mother who was obsessed with this environmentand put in dangerous situations, at the mercy of certain predators, including Bruel. She lived her dreams through me. I was objectified, manipulated, and I only had one idea, that she be satisfied, happy.” Confidences which respond in particular to those who wonder about the circumstances which led her, at 16, to find herself alone at the home of Patrick Bruel, aged 32 at the time.
