She is a former collaborator of Nicolas Hulot. She prefers that we do not give her identity, but has agreed to testify in “Special Envoy”. She worked with him in 2001, when he was presenter of “Ushuaïa”. She believes that Nicolas Hulot behaved shockingly towards her, which she describes as abuse of power. The facts allegedly took place in September 2001, during the very first working meeting with Nicolas Hulot, who was his hierarchical superior. At the time, she was a single mother with a toddler. This job is very important to her.
“First working meeting, we were just him and I. He was on one side of the desk, me on the other: taking notes, debriefing, brief, debriefing, and the day that ends in an atmosphere very studious, cordial, neutral in tone. It’s professional. At the end of the meeting, I get up to greet him. He leaning over the desk, he kisses me full on the mouth. goodbye, there is the office between us, big executive offices, to want to kiss someone, you have to want it anyway, there is no promiscuity at all during this meeting.
“We are each on one side of the desk, there is zero implication, it is the end of the meeting, it must be 6 pm, it is neither a handshake nor a kiss, he m ‘really kisses full on the mouth, there is no seduction, there is no sweetness, there had been no sign at all. “
A former collaborator of Nicolas Hulotto “Special Envoy”
[Il m’embrasse] by force because it is by surprise. It’s not a light kiss either, it’s really we take the person’s head and kiss him full on the mouth. It’s very shocking, it’s very unexpected. [Je réagis] wrong. I suddenly pull back, run away, grab my things and break. I say ‘No’, and I back up and I go.
I think the slap would be gone if I hadn’t had this subordinate relationship. If I hadn’t needed this job. If it hadn’t been for my child at stake, and his balance. There, I could have put my hand in the face, slammed the door in his face and never come back. He jumps on me as if I were at his disposal, as if it were a power, one has the impression that it is a right of cuissage: ‘You are there, I take you’. It is so unexpected that it can only be shocking. It is unacceptable. I tell him, and then I tell him: ‘It is not possible that there is a relationship between you and me’. He tells me ‘That’s a shame’.
On the way back, I go home, my phone shows me a message from him. He leaves me as a message ‘I’m not calling to apologize, but to regret not having had more’. I then asked him never to do that again, and he didn’t do it again. He just told me ‘That’s a shame’ in a playful tone. It is clear that he does not take the measure of what that can do with the other. “
Extract from “Nicolas Hulot: women accuse”, broadcast in “Special Envoy” on November 25, 2021.
The facts described by this former collaborator are prescribed and cannot be the subject of any legal proceedings. Nicolas Hulot is presumed innocent. “Special Envoy” reporters contacted him and his lawyers on several occasions. He refused to answer their questions in front of a camera. His advice also declined interview requests. They let it be known that their client strongly disputes the facts, and more generally claims to have never assaulted a woman in his life.
Reached by phone on November 9, 2021, Nicolas Hulot says: “I am devastated, I have never had ambiguous relationships. (…) You know very well that it will be word against word. The word of men is called into question, so it is no longer even worth defending yourself. (…) Not because I fear what I have done, it is so abject, so odious, so far away from what I have always been and from what I am (.. .). And how do you want me to remember? I especially remember what I never did. I have never in my life coerced into anything, anyone. Never, neither close nor by force. When we do not feel, that we do not seduce, or that we are not seduced, we stop there, it is like that since the dawn of time. (…) I am not going to counter-attack [en disant] that they’re all liars, stuff like that. I do not know. What I know is what I never did. But when you’re innocent like I am, innocent in a way you can’t even imagine … You’re trapped anyway, no matter what you say, speaking is suspect. Whatever we say. Here is. We cannot defend ourselves. We cannot defend ourselves… Because in this legitimate, necessary fight of women, the word of women is sacred, and there you have it.“
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