Virginia Giuffre remembered as ‘fierce warrior against sexual abuse’

Virginia Giuffre, who became a prominent accuser of Jeffrey Epstein and the Duke of York, has been described by her family as a “fierce warrior in the fight against sexual abuse and sex trafficking” after her death aged 41.

Ms Giuffre was born Virginia Roberts in California in 1983, before her family relocated to Florida. At seven, she said she was sexually abused by a family friend and her later childhood was spent in and out of foster care.

She met Ghislaine Maxwell, a British socialite, in 2000 while working as a locker room attendant at Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort in Palm Beach. Maxwell offered her an interview for the chance to train as a massage therapist, she said, and took her to Jeffrey Epstein.

What she had expected to be a job interview was in fact the beginning of years of abuse, according to Ms Giuffre.

Ms Giuffre was taken by Epstein on private jets around the world. She told the BBC she was abused by the US financier and “passed around like a platter of fruit” to his associates.

In 2001, at the age of 17, she said Epstein brought her to London and introduced her to Prince Andrew, who she claimed sexually abused her three times. The prince, who has denied all claims against him, reached an out-of-court settlement with her in 2022 which contained no admission of liability or apology.

In an interview with the Miami Herald, Ms Giuffre said Epstein had lost interest in her when she turned 19 in 2003, as she had become too old for him.

She said she convinced the wealthy financier to pay for her to get training to become a professional masseuse and he arranged for her to take a class in Thailand. But she was also expected to bring home a Thai girl that Epstein had arranged to come to the US.

Instead, on that trip, Ms Giuffre met a man named Robert whom she fell in love with and married 10 days later.

They spent time in the US before moving to Australia, initially settling in Cairns in far north Queensland before relocating close to the western city of Perth. The pair had three children together: Christian, Noah and Emily.

Reports suggest their marriage eventually broke down. On 2 February, she allegedly breached a family violence restraining order in Ocean Reef, the town where her family lived, according to Western Australia Courts.

On 22 March she posted the following on Instagram: “My beautiful babies have no clue how much I love them and they’re being poisoned with lies.

“I miss them so very much. I have been through hell & back in my 41 years but this is incredibly hurting me worse than anything else.”

Just over a week later she posted again to say she was recovering in hospital after a “serious” vehicle collision and had “four days to live”, alongside a photo of her in hospital. Her family later said she had not intended to make the post public.

Western Australia Police disputed the severity of the crash, saying they were only able to find a report of a “minor crash” between a school bus and a car in Neergabby, about an hour north of Perth, on 24 March.

The collision was reported by the bus driver the following day, while there were no reported injuries, a police spokeswoman said.

Ms Giuffre was living at a farm in Neergabby, where she was found dead on Friday.

“It is with utterly broken hearts that we announce that Virginia passed away last night at her farm in Western Australia,” her family said in a statement, confirming her death by suicide.

“Virginia was a fierce warrior in the fight against sexual abuse and sex trafficking. She was the light that lifted so many survivors. Despite all the adversity she faced in her life, she shone so bright. She will be missed beyond measure.”

The family added the children “were the light of her life” and that it was while holding her newborn daughter she “realized she had to fight back against those who had abused her and so many others.”

Ms Giuffre’s representative Dini von Mueffling described her as “one of the most extraordinary human beings I have ever had the honour to know.

“Deeply loving, wise, and funny, she was a beacon to other survivors and victims. She adored her children and many animals. It was the privilege of a lifetime to represent her.”

If you are suffering distress or despair, details of help and support in the UK are available at BBC Action Line. In the US, you can contact the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline on 1-800-273-8255 or the Crisis Test Line by texting HOME to 741741. Help is also available in the US and Canada by dialling 988. Young people in need of help can call Kids Help Phone on 1-800-668-6868