“Celibacy, for him, was something unbearable”: what his family knew about Abbé Pierre’s sexuality

“Celibacy, for him, was something unbearable”: what his family knew about Abbé Pierre’s sexuality
“Celibacy, for him, was something unbearable”: what his family knew about Abbé Pierre’s sexuality

The nephew of Abbé Pierre, accused of having sexually assaulted numerous women, spoke for the first time on Bleu Isère this Monday, October 7. He evokes the “violence” of the revelations concerning his uncle while explaining that his family knew that he had a problem with his sexuality.

Far from imagining the extent of the accusations which now target the world-famous Abbé Pierre, Guy Tuscher, his 71-year-old nephew, spoke for the first time at the microphone of France Bleu Isère. He explains that as a child, he had a lot of admiration for Abbé Pierre, who occasionally came to recharge his batteries in his parents’ house.

When he learned of the revelations about his uncle, he says it was “violent”, but that deep down, he was not that surprised. “We, in the family, all knew that our uncle’s sexuality was problematic. My mother had spoken to us about it. On the other hand, the sexual assaults as they were described, no, we did not know about them”he explains to our colleagues.

Celibacy, “something unbearable”

His mother, Abbot Pierre’s sister, had also been angry with him when he told her that he was becoming a priest, because she “knew very well that celibacy, for him, was something unbearable.”

In his testimony, Guy Tuscher has a special thought for the victims and recognizes that “without the MeToo movement, who would have believed them?” “I support these women who told what they suffered”explains Abbé Pierre’s nephew, who believes at the same time that we “cannot say that everything he has done is to be thrown away. That is not possible.”

As for the question of whether Abbé Pierre used his notoriety to enjoy a form of impunity, his nephew summarizes: “In fact, everyone was captivated by the myth of Abbé Pierre. And who was the man behind it? Well, the man, we now discover…”

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