Virginia Giuffre, known for being one of the loudest voices against Jeffrey Epstein, has died by suicide. She was 41 and living 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 in a statement to NBC News.
RELATED STORIES
“She lost her life to suicide, after being a lifelong victim of s*xual abuse and s*x trafficking.”
One of the first to call out Epstein
Virginia was one of the first people to really speak out about Epstein and push for him and the people helping him to face charges.
Other women later said that seeing her speak up gave them the strength to come forward, too.
The info she gave helped take Maxwell down
She also gave law enforcement key info that helped move the case against Ghislaine Maxwell forward.
That eventually helped lead to Maxwell being convicted.
Virginia’s info also helped with other investigations coming out of the U.S. attorney’s office in New York.
The weight of it all became too much
“Virginia was a fierce warrior in the fight against s*xual abuse and s*x trafficking. She was the light that lifted so many survivors,” the statement said.
“In the end, the toll of abuse is so heavy that it became unbearable for Virginia to handle its weight.”
Her childhood was far from easy
She spent most of her early years in Florida. Things weren’t good at home.
Virginia said a family friend abused her, and that sent everything downhill fast. She eventually ended up living on the streets for a while as a teenager.
Epstein and Maxwell pulled her into their world
Virginia was trying to turn things around when she crossed paths with Ghislaine Maxwell. Maxwell, who was tight with Epstein, got her involved with him.
She said the abuse started not long after, and it kept going from 1999 through 2002.
She also said Epstein didn’t just hurt her himself. He made her sleep with some of his powerful friends, including Prince Andrew and Jean-Luc Brunel, a modeling agent from France.
She stood up to Prince Andrew
In 2021, Virginia took legal action against Prince Andrew. She said he had abused her when she was 17.
By that time, he had already stepped away from public royal duties because of the Epstein scandal.
He didn’t admit anything but agreed to a private settlement in 2022. The details were never made public.
Faced Brunel in a French courtroom
Just a few months before that, in mid-2021, Virginia gave testimony in Paris against Jean-Luc Brunel.
The hearing was behind closed doors, but afterward, she talked about why she showed up. She said she needed to speak for the others who couldn’t.
“I wanted Brunel to know that he no longer has the power over me,” Giuffre said, “that I am a grown woman now and I’ve decided to hold him accountable for what he did to me and so many others.”
Life in Australia with her family
Virginia and her husband moved to Australia before Epstein got arrested in 2019. They have three kids together.
Her brother says she bore it all
Her brother, Danny Wilson, told NBC News she “pushed so hard to snuff the evil out” of the world. “Her biggest push was, ‘If I don’t do this, nobody’s going to do it,’” he said.
She dealt with serious physical pain, including kidney problems. But her brother said it was the mental pain that really wore her down.
Those close to her saw her as a fighter
Giuffre’s lawyer, Sigrid McCawley, called her a “dear friend and an incredible champion for other victims.”
“Virginia was one of the most extraordinary human beings I have ever had the honor to know,” her representative, Dini von Mueffling, said.
And McCawley said, “Her courage pushed me to fight harder, and her strength was awe-inspiring.”
“Take us serious,” she said. “We matter.”
