Virginia Giuffre, one of Jeffrey Epstein’s most prominent victims, took her own life. The 41-year-old’s body was found at her home in Neergabby, Australia.
“It is with utterly broken hearts that we announce that Virginia passed away last night at her farm in Western Australia,” her family said to NBC News. “She lost her life to suicide, after being a lifelong victim of sexual abuse and sex trafficking. She was the light that lifted so many survivors. In the end, the toll of abuse is so heavy that it became unbearable for Virginia to handle its weight.”
Raised primarily in Florida, Giuffre had a complex life from a young age. She recounted being abused by a family friend since her teenage years, an affair that led her to live on the streets for a time.
Just as she was trying to build her own future, she met Ghislaine Maxwell, Epstein’s top associate, who introduced her to the New York entrepreneur. Giuffre went on to recount that she was sexually abused by the latter from 1999 to 2002: she also said that once she entered Epstein’s terrifying business despite herself, she was abused at the age of only 17 by Prince Andrew, the third-born son of Elizabeth II of England, and French manager Jean-Luc Brunel.
Giuffre filed a federal lawsuit against Prince Andrew in 2021. The Duke of York resigned from his duties as an active member of the royal family because of the Epstein-related controversy and agreed to settle the case for an undisclosed sum in 2022. Over the years, he has continued to deny having sexual relations with Giuffre. Brunel, who ran several modeling agencies, was charged with sexual harassment and the rape of at least one minor in December 2020. Brunel took his own life in his cell in Paris, in February 2022.
Suicide is a theme that returns often in this terrible affair. Epstein also died by suicide in 2019, in a New York prison, under conditions that were never entirely clear, while awaiting trial.
Giuffre was one of the very first victims to speak out against Epstein and Maxwell and to demand a conviction of the powerful Brooklyn businessman and his socialite girlfriend, Ghislaine Maxwell.
Shortly before Epstein’s arrest, Giuffre had moved to Australia with her husband. The two had three children. The memory of those tragic years, however, never completely left her. “She was in real physical pain — suffered from renal failure. But I think that the mental pain was worse”, her brother said.
“She was a dear friend and an incredible champion for other victims”, her lawyer, Sigrid McCawley, added. “Her courage pushed me to fight harder, and her strength was awe-inspiring.”
