PPDA. Two new complaints and a new report for sexual violence and rape were filed against Patrick Poivre d’Arvor this month, reveals Liberation.
[Updated September 20, 2022 at 10:37 am] Patrick Poivre d’Arvor is the subject of three new charges of sexual violence. Two new complaints against the journalist were filed this month, as well as a new report, Liberation revealed on Monday, September 19, 2022. The facts denounced are however time-barred and will not give rise to prosecution. Among these three alleged victims are the authors Margot Cauquil-Gleizes and Bénédicte Martin. The third woman concerned prefers to remain anonymous. Patrick Poivre d’Arvor disputes these new accusations, like the previous ones. An investigation is currently underway.
The three women who accuse Patrick Poivre d’Arvor detailed their accusations with the generalist daily. They claim to have met PPDA during the program Vol de Nuit or after an exchange of letters. The journalist then allegedly summoned them to his office, where he attempted to undress them and enter them. “He rocks me on the bed, undresses me, penetrates me,” says Anne Cauquil-Gleizes, who was 17 at the time of the alleged facts. “It barely lasts five minutes. I remain completely passive, I don’t understand what is happening to me.” Seven years later, the journalist invites him to attend the recording of the JT. He would then have taken him to his office and would have said to him: “This diary was really very difficult, you would give me a little treat.” Anne Cauquil-Gleizes says she then fled.
Juliette (assumed name), recounts having been raped by Patrick Poivre d’Arvor in his office in 2000. “The simple satisfaction of a need”, she specifies, “He pinned me against a table , lifted my skirt and penetrated me.” He then allegedly handed her a box of wipes for her to “wipe off”. She says she felt like “a piece of meat that we use.” Bénédicte Martin, for her part, says she had a similar experience when she was 20, in 2003. “I never stopped reporting the acts of PPDA, no one was ever shocked.” Patrick Poivre d’Arvor is the subject of around thirty charges for rape, assault or sexual harassment, all of which he denied, announcing last April to file a complaint against 16 of them for “slanderous denunciations”.
Patrick Poivre d’Arvor is a French journalist and writer, best known as the presenter of the 8 p.m. news on TF1. Born on September 20, 1947, the one nicknamed “PPDA” must very quickly face responsibilities. At only 15 years old, he is already a bachelor and the father of a little Dorothée. However, this premature birth will in no way affect his ascent. A year later, he published his first novel Les enfants de l’aube, a first success in bookstores. At that time, he nurtured the desire to become a diplomat. At the age of 22, he holds a law degree and graduated from the Political Institute of Bordeaux and then from the National Institute of Oriental Languages ??and Civilizations. But it is ultimately journalism that he chooses. In 1970, he entered the Journalists Training Center. A year later, he began his career at France Inter and presented the morning papers and the press review for four years.
An exemplary career ensued. At Antenne 2, he successively became head of the internal policy department, then head of the economic and social department. He made his debut in front of the camera in 1975 and was appointed, the following year, editor-in-chief of the 20h newspaper which he hosted until 1983. However, he left the public service for Canal where he was in charge of Tous en stage for three years. Arrived at TF1 in 1986, he hosted À la folie pas du tout, a talk show where he received the personalities who made the news, before embodying, the following year, the new face of 8 p.m. From now on, PPDA as he is nicknamed, becomes one of the favorite presenters of the French. His newspaper, which flirts with a 40% market share, is the most watched in Europe. With success, Patrick Poivre d’Arvor has not forgotten his passion for literature. He presented literary programs Ex-Libris then Vol de nuit. He also keeps a soul of writers since he has no less than thirty novels to his credit.
Patrick Poivre d’Arvor was forced to leave the 8 p.m. newspaper and the TF1 channel in July 2008, before being replaced by Laurence Ferrari. His career continued on the France 5 and Arte channels, with La Traversée du Miroir, A house, a writer and The opinion of others. In September 2008, he joined RTL. In December 2011, he presented the society magazine Place Publique, on France 3, as well as Flash-Back in 2012. After RTL, PPDA joined Radio Classique in January 2014, and will be dismissed in 2018. He will also be on CNews.
Patrick Poivre d’Arvor has a reputation as a ladies’ man. Currently, he is not known to have a relationship or wife. In 1971, he married a teacher, Véronique Courcoux. They will remain together until 2010, the year of their divorce. In the meantime, the journalist will have several publicized links, such as with the writer Claire Castillon in the 2000s, but also with the columnist Agathe Borne from 2007 to 2008. He also had an affair with the presenter and journalist Claire Chazal. From their relationship will be born a son, born in 1995, whom Patrick Poivre d’Arvor will not recognize until ten years later. In total, Patrick Poivre d’Arvor will have had seven children: from his marriage, Dorothée in 1963, Arnaud in 1972, Tiphaine in 1974, Solenn in 1975, Garance in 1980, Morgane in 1981; and his affair with Claire Chazal, a son, François.
For several years, Patrick Poivre d’Arvor had an affair with the one who was the presenter of the weekend on TF1, Claire Chazal, while he was still married to Véronique Courcoux. From this relationship will be born a son, François, born in 1995 but whom the presenter will not officially recognize until 2005. With Paris-Match in 2019, Claire Chazal will also return to this relationship, “chaotic but so rewarding”.
Patrick Poivre d’Arvor has experienced drama in his life, starting with the loss of three of his children. Tiphaine, born in 1974, died nearly a year later of sudden infant death syndrome. Garance, born in 1980, was stillborn. Solenn, born in 1975, committed suicide in 1995 by throwing herself under a metro train. She was 19 and suffered from anorexia nervosa. Patrick Poivre-d’Arvor has two other daughters: Dorothée, born in 1963, and Morgane, born in 1981. He also has two sons: Arnaud, born in 1972, and François, born in 1995 from his affair with Claire Chazal.
Patrick Poivre d’Arvor did not hide having suffered from an illness in his youth: at 13, he was diagnosed with the onset of leukemia. He will cure his illness in Alsace. When he was 17, he was inspired by this painful experience to write a book, Les Enfants de l’aube, which would not be published until 1982. “Being a survivor, I think I had an appetite for life more stronger than another”, he confides in particular in the columns of Gala.
Le Parisien revealed on February 18, 2021 that PPDA was the subject of a preliminary investigation for rape, information later confirmed by AFP which cited the Nanterre prosecution. It was writer and columnist Florence Porcel who filed a complaint against the former TF1 star. After the accusations of Florence Porcel, Patrick Poivre d’Arvor would be the subject of new complaints against him. In total, eleven women filed complaints, including four for rape, sexual assault or sexual harassment. On June 25, 2021, Le Parisien announced that the Nanterre public prosecutor’s office had closed the preliminary investigation without further action, in particular due to prescribed or insufficiently characterized offenses. In November 2021, Florence Porcel once again filed a complaint for rape, this time with a civil action.
The accusations of Florence Porcel. The facts denounced by Florence Porcel would have occurred in 2004 and 2009. In 2004, the complainant claims that the presenter of the JT de la Une would have kissed her by “introducing his hand into her panties”. They would then have had sex, according to Florence Porcel, to which the writer, then 21 years old, paralyzed, would not have consented. In 2009, the complainant assures that the ex-journalist would have forced her to practice oral sex without protection. According to her words, this time she would have explicitly expressed her disagreement. Florence Porcel had already described in January, in her book Pandorini (JC Lattès), a similar relationship inspired by her story, without naming an aggressor. During the month of March, other women who claim to be victims of sexual assault and harassment are heard by the police, and testify to Le Monde. In total, eight complaints are against PPDA, including four for rape.
Patrick Poivre d’Arvor defends himself. At the beginning of March 2021, Patrick Poivre d’Arvor reacted to the accusations with Daily. In his life, he would never have accepted a relationship that was not consensual, he says. “If there was seduction or attempted seduction, it does not come from me,” he says. PPDA had already reacted previously to the accusations of Florence Porcel on the evening of February 19, 2021. After having estimated with the Parisian in an SMS that this complaint was “fanciful accusations”, the ex-star of TF1 had announced via a press release press release that he was going to file a complaint against his accuser for “slanderous denunciation, as false as it was inspired by a quest for unseemly notoriety”. In a text published on Facebook, PPDA also claims to have “never forced anyone into a romantic relationship, nor of course into a relationship”. He also assures that he will respond to “any summons from the investigators to restore my honor and the truth of the facts”.
Further charges against PPDA. Since February 2021, eleven women, including Florence Porcel, have filed a complaint against Patrick Poivre d’Arvor to denounce acts of rape, sexual assault or sexual harassment. In June 2021, the preliminary investigation was dismissed by the Nanterre public prosecutor’s office, due either to the statute of limitations or “insufficiently characterized offenses” in the case of Florence Porcel. “Shocked” by this conclusion, eight of the PPDA accusers chose to testify in Liberation, including seven with their faces uncovered, to publicly detail the attacks they claim to have suffered from the former king of the JT.
“He turns me suddenly in front of him, forces me to bend down and pushes his cock into my mouth”, “in the hallway leading to his entrance, Patrick jumps on me”, “In a handful of seconds, his tongue was in my mouth, one of his hands in my bra”, ‘he tries to kiss me, he undoes his belt and lowers his pants’… All denounce to Libé acts of rape, sexual assault or of sexual harassment they claim to have suffered from PPDA. Among these eight new testimonies, seven are made with their faces uncovered. It should also be noted that, if these testimonies had never before been transcribed in the media, they had already been heard by the police during the preliminary investigation, before the case is dismissed.Most of the facts denounced are, however, time-barred.
The investigation against PPDA has been reopened. According to information from franceinfo, Florence Porcel filed a new complaint against Patrick Poivre d’Arvor in November 2021 by becoming a civil party. An investigating judge is seized, this step automatically triggered the opening of a judicial investigation. The rape she denounces would have occurred in 2009, and would therefore not be prescribed. However, it was judged by the Nanterrre public prosecutor’s office as “insufficiently characterized”, which led to the case being closed without further action. This means that the prosecution did not think it had enough “evidence” to prosecute.
Two new complaints have been filed against PPDA, both of which fall within the statute of limitations. One of them denounces facts that allegedly took place in Cannes in 1985, when she was a 23-year-old trainee: “I have the feeling of liquefying myself while someone penetrates me without a condom. My body is there , and I am elsewhere” she describes in her testimony. She claims to have explicitly marked her refusal to have sex. Despite the prescription, the accuser told Liberation that she “hopes that it will at least serve others”. According to information from TF1 and LCI, an investigation was opened on December 16 for rape against PPDA following the complaint in the context of this accusation of rape which allegedly occurred in 1985 in Cannes.
PPDA files a complaint for slanderous denunciation. On Tuesday April 26, 2022, Patrick Poivre d’Arvor announced that he was attacking 16 women who accused him of rape and sexual assault for slanderous denunciation. This procedure brought by PPDA, with civil action, paves the way for a trial, where the previous charges had so far had no legal consequences because the majority of the facts were prescribed. In its complaint, PPDA affirms that “the liberation of women’s speech unfortunately has its share of excesses and excesses”. He believes that these women whom he would have “spurned or ignored”, would have generated a “bitterness leading them to commit, by belated revenge, the offense of slanderous denunciation”. If he does not want to be dismissed at the end of this looming trial, Poivre d’Arvor will have to prove how the denunciations against him were made with the conscious aim of harming him.
The alleged victims, meanwhile, seem to welcome the potential for an upcoming trial against PPDA. Muriel Reus filed a complaint against PPDA but the case was dismissed. With Poivre d’Arvor’s complaint for slanderous denunciation, the possibility of a trial opens up. In an interview for Complément d’Enquête, Reus announces that he is delighted with this possibility. “Cheer ! It is very very good this new complaint because it will perhaps allow us to finally have a trial. It will allow us to be able to express ourselves publicly. This will make it possible to have other people and perhaps other victims testify. It’s even quite unexpected. We welcome this complaint.” Emmanuelle Dancourt, who is also one of the women who filed the complaint, also spoke about it on Twitter: “Good news! We are going to have a trial, we who were deprived of it for prescription! Eye to eye Patrick…»
A new complaint filed at the end of April 2022. On April 28, 2022, a new complaint accusing Patrick Poivre d’Arvor of sexual assault was filed in Paris. It was the Nanterre public prosecutor’s office which confirmed the information the same day. The charges relate to alleged events that allegedly took place in February 1995. At the time, the victim was 24 years old and had just graduated as a journalist. She claims to have been invited to the office of the presenter of TF1 who would then have “kissed” her, then “tilted on the carpet.” The complainant, who wished to remain anonymous, described the alleged facts as follows: “He took off his pants and he raped me. I had no more reflexes. Also according to the complaint, PPDA would have tried again to rape her a few days later: “He grabbed me by the hair and approached my face to his sex. There, I struggled.” A total of 26 women testified against Patrick Poivre d’Arvor in this case.
Revelations in Complementary Investigation. The broadcast of Supplement to the investigation on France 2 on April 28, 2022 provided more details on the PPDA affair. Catherine Lambret, who headed the Institut Pratique du Journalisme at the University of Paris-Dauphine, spoke about the PPDA scandal on the show. She explains that she was alerted by journalists from Antenne 2 and TF1. “Every time they advised me, from the year 83, 84, and after, the following years, never to send girls where PPDA could be.” She claims that the presenter would have had the reputation of “attacking girls”. According to Catherine Lambret, the journalists who alerted her “said that you should not stay in the editorial staff of TF1 at the end of the day, be the last to leave, because otherwise, PPDA risked throwing itself on you.” As a result, the director of the IPJ has “never sent a girl on an internship at TF1” for ten years.
