Claire Nouvian is an environmental activist specializing in the abyss. In 2008, she participated in an episode of “Ushuaia” on the great depths, off Costa Rica. If she has fond memories of this experience, she remembers going to Costa Rica with some trepidation. She says that before her departure, Nicolas Hulot’s entourage warned her about her behavior towards women.
“The entourage, before going on filming, tell me ‘Avoid situations where you are alone with him, if you work, it is at the hotel restaurant, it is not in your room, when you are on the boat, rather close your cabin in the evening and do not don’t open if he knocks on your door at night, pretend to sleep ‘. Instructions like this … I say ‘But there is a problem there, anyway!’ It is the rather political entourage that tells me that. I am not very comfortable “, She testifies in the program “Special Envoy”, broadcast Thursday, November 25.
According to Claire Nouvian, Nicolas Hulot did not make any inappropriate gesture during the filming. But she says, a few years later, after a work meeting, he would have behaved confusingly. “We went to his house for a coffee and when it was time to take me home, he still tried to kiss me and I said to him ‘Nicolas but serious ?! What is this thing ?’. It has nothing to do there. Nothing. It’s completely irrelevant, that’s what is amazing. It is as if we are filming here and when it is time to leave, your cameraman tries to kiss me. What’s the subject ? It’s so irrelevant “, she explains.
And to continue: “There is clearly a dysfunction in his relationship with women. Everyone is aware of this, because there is a lot of consumption (…) a lot of young girls who go to the pot. are consenting adults, there is nothing to say about it (…) consenting adults, there is nothing to say, and if there were not more serious problems, we would not wouldn’t be here talking about it.“
Extract from “Nicolas Hulot: women accuse”, broadcast in “Special Envoy” on November 25, 2021.
The facts described in the “Special Envoy” investigation are time-barred and may not be the subject of any legal proceedings. Nicolas Hulot is presumed innocent. Journalists at the magazine contacted him and his lawyers on several occasions. He refused to answer their questions in front of a camera. His lawyers 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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