Virginia Giuffre, the woman who accused Jeffrey Epstein and Prince Andrew of sexual abuse, died by suicide Thursday, April 24. She was 41.
The news was confirmed to People by Giuffre’s family.
“Giuffre lost her life to suicide, after being a lifelong victim of sexual abuse and sex trafficking,” her family said. “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 light of her life were her children Christian, Noah and Emily.”
“It was when she held her newborn daughter in her arms that Virginia realized she had to fight back against those who had abused her and so many others,” the statement continued. “There are no words that can express the grave loss we feel today with the passing of our sweet Virginia. She was heroic and will always be remembered for her incredible courage and loving spirit. In the end, the toll of abuse is so heavy that it became unbearable for Virginia to handle its weight. We know that she is with the angels.”
Giuffre accused Epstein and his associate Ghislaine Maxwell of forcing her into a sex ring of high-profile clients when she was 16-years-old and of forcing her to have sex with Epstein, who died by suicide in August 2019 while awaiting trial on charges of child sex trafficking.
She also filed a lawsuit against Prince Andrew in 2021 and claimed the former senior royal forced her to have sex with him three times between 1999 and 2001. In the suit, Giuffre accused the then 61-year-old prince of sexually abusing her at Epstein’s Manhattan home when she was under the age of 18, and of intentionally inflicting emotional distress.
“I am holding Prince Andrew accountable for what he did to me. The powerful and the rich are not exempt from being held responsible for their actions,” Giuffre said in part, in a statement to the media. “I hope that other victims will see that it is possible not to live in silence and fear, but one can reclaim her life by speaking out and demanding justice.”
In a 2019 BBC interview, Andrew denied the allegations. “I’ve said consistently and frequently that we never had any sort of sexual contact whatever,” he said, when questioned about Giuffre’s allegations against him.
The pair settled out of court in February 2022 for an undisclosed amount.
Virginia Giuffre was born Aug. 9, 1983, in Sacramento, California. She detailed a childhood of sexual abuse and instability in a 2018 interview with the Miami Herald. After a period of homelessness, she moved in with her father, then became the maintenance manager at Mar-a-Lago, at age 14.
It was there that she met Maxwell, who worked in the resort’s spa. She was soon roped into Maxwell and Epstein’s sex ring and spent significant time with the pair between 2000 and 2002. Giuffre filed a lawsuit against Epstein and Maxwell in 2009 as Jane Doe 102 alongside several other victims. That lawsuit was settled for $500,000.
In the darkness, Giuffre still found light. She was a mother of three children, Christina, Noah and Emily.
In recent weeks she appeared to indicate a forced estrangement from the trio. “My beautiful babies have no clue how much I love them and they’re being poisoned with lies. I miss them so very much,” she wrote in a post shared on Instagram.
“I have been through hell & back in my 41 years but this is incredibly hurting me worse than anything else. Hurt me, abuse me but don’t take my babies. My heart is shattered and every day that passes my sadness only deepens 
.”
Her publicist Dini von Mueffling wrote in a statement, “She adored her children and many animals. She was always more concerned with me than with herself. I will miss her beyond words. It was the privilege of a lifetime to represent her.”
The National Suicide Prevention Lifeline 988 is a free, 24/7 confidential service that can provide people in suicidal crisis or emotional distress, or those around them, with support, information and local resources.
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