Virginia Giuffre, Outspoken Jeffrey Epstein Accuser and Sex Trafficking Activist, Dies by Suicide at 41

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 and of forcing her to have sex with Epstein, who died by suicide in August 2019 awaiting trial on charges of child sex trafficking.

She filed a lawsuit against Prince Andrew in 2021 and claimed the former senior royal forced her to have sex three times between 1999 and 2001. In the suit Giuffre accused the 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 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.”

The pair settled out of court in February 2022 for an undisclosed amount.

Virginia Giuffre was born August 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 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.

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.

More to come…

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