Gisèle Pelicot, a French woman who became a world symbol of courage when she came out publicly to testify against her ex-husband and dozens of other men in a mass-rape trial, she told “CBS Sunday Morning” that she believes her story “could be useful to others.”

That’s why he opens his story in the memoir “Hymn to Life: Shame Must Change Sides”. She said she was speaking directly to those who might ask, “How could this woman go through what she went through and still be standing?”

In her first US broadcast interview, aired on “CBS Sunday Morning” on February 15, Pelicot told correspondent Seth Doane that she “was a very discreet woman.”

Pelicot waived her right to anonymity and insisted that the proceedings be made public during the 4-month trial of her ex-husband, Dominique Pelicot, and 51 other men accused of raping her over nearly a decade at his behest. All men were found guiltyand Dominique was sentenced to a maximum sentence of 20 years.

In her memoir, Pelicot recounts her shock and horror when she discovered that her then-husband had drugged her for years and recruited other men to attack her in their home.

“I never imagined living with a man who was drugging his wife in his own home. It was impossible,” she told Doane.

Pelicot suffered from unexplained health problems, and in retrospect, she says there were other signs that something was wrong, recalling several disturbing incidents when her drinks tasted strange — sometimes even undrinkable — “like mint had been put in my glass.” She also recalls her husband preparing their potatoes separately. But she never imagined her husband tying them.

“How can you imagine that your husband is drugging you? It’s unimaginable — impossible. In fact, I was manipulated for ten years. Because every day he looked into my eyes knowing that he was poisoning me. But I never saw that. I saw a good, caring man,” she said.

See more of Seth Doane’s interview with Gisèle Pelicot this weekend at “CBS Sunday Morning.” Pelicot’s Memoirs, “Anthem to Life”, will be published next week by Penguin Press.