Virginia Giuffre, the most prominent victim of notorious pedophile and human trafficker Jeffrey Epstein, took her own life on Thursday at the age of 41, Giuffre’s family announced in a statement.
Giuffre died in Neergabby, Australia, where she had been living for several years. “It is with utterly broken hearts that we announce that Virginia passed away last night at her farm in Western Australia,” the 41-year-old’s family said in a statement to NBC News. “She lost her life to suicide, after being a lifelong victim of sexual abuse and sex trafficking.”
Giuffre emerged as one of the earliest victims Jeffrey Epstein to speak out, which ultimately led to criminal charges against the billionaire financier before he committed suicide in a Manhattan federal jail cell in August 2019.
Other victims later credited Giuffre with giving them the courage to speak out and share their own accounts of sexual abuse at the hands of Epstein and his high-profile clients. She also provided law enforcement with critical information in the criminal case against Ghislaine Maxwell, Epstein’s former girlfriend who played a leading role in trafficking underage girls to perform sex acts on adult men at Epstein’s properties.
Maxwell was convicted and ultimately sentenced to 20 years in federal prison in 2022. Giufree is also credited with providing crucial information in additional cases pursued by the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York.
Giufree took legal action against Epstein in 2015, alleging that she was sex trafficked at the age of 16 by Maxwell, who recruited her from her job as a locker room attendant at President Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort.
Epstein was later banned from Mar-A-Lago after Trump became aware of his devious activities, which included hitting on underage girls. The banishment took place just months before Epstein pleaded guilty to state sex crimes charges in Florida in 2008.
Among the most explosive claims made by Giufree was one in which she claimed to have seen former President Bill Clinton at Epstein’s infamous island, an allegation Clinton has long denied.
Giuffre, a mother of three, also alleged that she was forced to have sex with the disgraced royal family member Prince Andrew on three occasions. The alleged acts took place across multiple properties owned by Epstein, including his Little Saint James Island and his London home.
An infamous photo of Giuffre, then a minor, standing next to the current king’s brother was taken at the latter property.
Prince Andrew has long denied the allegations, though he did opt to settle out of court with his accuser for a lofty $12 million sum in 2022.
Virginia Giuffre (then Roberts) with Prince Andrew and Ghislaine Maxwell at Prince Andrew’s London home in a photo released with court documents
“Virginia was a fierce warrior in the fight against sexual abuse and sex 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,” Giuffre’s family told NBC News.
Giuffre, who had been living in Australia with her family, generated headlines last month when she posted a photo of her heavily-bruised face on social media. The 41-year-old said she had collided with a bus, adding that she “had four days to live.”
“This has been the worst start to a new year,” she wrote in the caption alongside the photo. “I’m ready to go, just not until I see my babies one last time, but you know what they say about wishes,” Giuffre’s caption continued.
Bus driver Ross Munns claimed Giuffre had “blown it out of proportion,” claiming his bus carrying 29 children merely “clipped” a Toyota Highlander being driven by a 71-year-old woman with Giufree in the passenger seat.
“The driver pulled out in front of me. I made sure she was all right, and I went and did a police report,” Munns told the Daily Mail. “She was elderly, and I asked if she was OK, and she said, ‘Yes, I’m OK.’”
Munns further claimed he didn’t even notice a passenger in the car and only became aware when questioned by local police about the accident after they were contacted by the driver.
Giuffre’s 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, regarding her advocacy. “She was in real physical pain — suffered from renal failure. But I think that the mental pain was worse.”