Epstein abuse survivor Virginia Giuffre dead by suicide

Virginia Giuffre, who accused convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein of sexual abuse, died on Friday night at her farm in Western Australia. She was 41. She committed suicide, according to a statement emailed WORLD on behalf of her family.

Giuffre’s family said the trauma from the abuse she suffered eventually became unbearable. Giuffre loved her three children—Christian, Noah, and Emily—and spent her life fighting against abuse, the statement said.

Giuffre’s strength was awe-inspiring, Sigrid McCawley, the attorney who represented Giuffre and others in their cases against Epstein, said in a statement. Giuffre was a champion for other victims, McCawley said.

What role did Giuffre play in the investigation of the Epstein sex trafficking scandal? Giuffre came forward in 2010 with allegations that Epstein, already convicted of several sex offenses, sexually abused her while she worked as his masseuse, according to the Associated Press. She also accused Epstein of trafficking her to powerful men including British Prince Andrew. Prince Andrew denied her claims but settled with Giuffre for an undisclosed sum in 2022. Giuffre also filed a lawsuit against Epstein, but Epstein’s August 2019 suicide ended that legal action.

Giuffre later married, moved to Australia, and founded an advocacy organization for abuse victims, SOAR. She was estranged from her husband and children and had been charged with breaching a family violence restraining order based on an alleged incident that took place in February, the Associated Press reported.

What did Giuffre’s social media indicate about her situation? Giuffre published several troubling social media posts in the weeks before her death. On March 22, she shared several photos of her children with a caption pleading to see them and claiming they were told lies about her. On March 30, Giuffre posted a photo of herself with a bruised face in what appeared to be a hospital bed. She wrote a farewell message, saying she was dying of kidney failure after a bus crashed into her car. Giuffre said she wanted to see her children again but she wasn’t sure if that would happen. Her agent later released a statement saying the post was published in error and that Giuffre was in a serious condition, Australian news reported.