Virginia Giuffre, who accused Britain’s Prince Andrew of sexual abuse and was one of the most prominent victims of Jeffrey Epstein, has died. She was 41.
Her publicist and family confirmed she died by suicide at her farm in Western Australia on Friday.
“Virginia was a fierce warrior in the fight against sexual abuse and sex trafficking. She was the light that lifted so many survivors,” her family said in a statement. “Despite all the adversity she faced in her life, she shone so bright. She will be missed beyond measure.”
Her publicist Dini von Mueffling described Giuffre as “deeply loving, wise and funny.”
“She adored her children and many animals. She was always more concerned with me than with herself,” von Mueffling wrote in a statement. “I will miss her beyond words. It was the privilege of a lifetime to represent her.”
The American-born Giuffre, who lived in Australia for years, became an advocate for sex trafficking survivors after emerging as a central figure in Epstein’s prolonged downfall.
FILE – Virginia Roberts Giuffre, a sexual assault victim, speaks during a press conference outside a Manhattan court where sexual victims, on invitation of a judge, addressed a hearing after the accused Jeffrey Epstein killed himself before facing sex trafficking charges, Tuesday Aug. 27, 2019, in New York.
The Associated Press
Giuffre sued Prince Andrew in 2021, accusing him of forcing her to have sex at the London home of Ghislaine Maxwell, a longtime Epstein associate, when she was 17.
She also accused Andrew of abusing her at Epstein’s mansion in Manhattan, and on one of Epstein’s private islands in the U.S. Virgin Islands.
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The two reached an out-of-court settlement in Feb. 2022, for an unspecified amount. Before a settlement was reached, Andrew renounced his military titles and patronages, returning them to Queen Elizabeth II, in response to public backlash from the lawsuit and his relationship with Epstein.
The 65-year-old prince, the queen’s second son, has denied Giuffre’s accusations.
Epstein, a convicted sex offender, was arrested on federal sex trafficking charges in 2019, involving dozens of teenage girls and young women, some as young as 14.
The charges came 14 years after police in Palm Beach, Fla., first began investigating allegations that he sexually abused underage girls who were hired to give him massages.
Giuffre came forward publicly after the initial investigation ended in an 18-month Florida jail term for Epstein, who made a secret deal to avoid federal prosecution by pleading guilty instead to relatively minor state-level charges of soliciting prostitution. He was released in 2009.
A photo showing Prince Andrew and Virginia Giuffre together.
U.S. Second Circuit Court of Appeals
Epstein was found dead in his cell at a Manhattan prison, months after his arrest. His death was ruled a suicide, which put an end to his accusers’ hopes of holding him criminally accountable.
Maxwell was convicted in 2021 on federal sex trafficking and conspiracy charges and was sentenced to 20 years in prison. She said she wasn’t to blame for Epstein’s abuse.
Prosecutors elected not to include Giuffre’s allegations in the Maxwell case, but Giuffre later told the court that the British socialite had “opened the door to hell.”
Giuffre, born Virginia Roberts, told interviewers that her childhood was shattered when she was sexually abused as a grade-schooler by a man her family knew. She later ran away from home and endured more abuse, she said.
Last month, Giuffre’s publicist confirmed her client was hospitalized after a serious accident. Giuffre posted to Instagram that she had been in a car hit by a school bus and that she only had a few days to live.
She is survived by her three children, whom the statement described as the “light of her life.”
Sigrid McCawley, an attorney for Giuffre, said in a statement, “Her courage pushed me to fight harder, and her strength was awe-inspiring. The world has lost an amazing human being today. Rest in peace, my sweet angel.”
— With files from The Associated Press
If you or someone you know is in crisis and needs help, resources are available. In case of an emergency, please call 911 for immediate help.
For a directory of support services in your area, visit the Canadian Association for Suicide Prevention.
Learn more about how to help someone in crisis.
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