The family of Virginia Giuffre, who was trafficked by Jeffrey Epstein as a teen, have released a statement following her death by suicide.
‘Giuffre lost her life to suicide, after being a lifelong victim of sexual abuse and sex trafficking,’ her family stated.
‘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 read.
‘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.’
Her lawyer, Sigrid McCawley, also paid tribute to the 41-year-old.
‘Virginia was much more than a client to me; she was a dear friend and an incredible champion for other victims,’ Giuffre’s attorney said.
‘Her courage pushed me to fight harder, and her strength was awe-inspiring. The world has lost an amazing human being today. Rest in peace, my sweet angel.’
Virginia Giuffre is seen alongside her brother, Danny Wilson, right
Virginia Giuffre, with a photo of herself as a teen, when she says she was abused by Jeffrey Epstein
Giuffre claimed she was sexually abused by Prince Andrew at the behest of Epstein’s associate, jailed British socialite Ghislaine Maxwell, when she was just 17. She is seen here alongside the pair
Her publicist Dini von Mueffling described Giuffre as ‘deeply loving, wise and funny.’
‘She adored her children and many animals. She was always more concerned with me than with herself,’ von Mueffling wrote in a statement. ‘I will miss her beyond words. It was the privilege of a lifetime to represent her.’
Giuffre claimed she was sexually abused by Prince Andrew at the behest of Epstein’s associate, jailed British socialite Ghislaine Maxwell, when she was just 17.
The Duke of York denied the allegation, as has Maxwell – who is a convicted sex offender – while Epstein died in a New York prison in 2019.
She filed a federal lawsuit against Andrew in 2021 which he agreed to settle for an undisclosed fee but rumored to be in the millions in 2022. He has consistently denied ever having sex with her.
Since the settlement, Giuffre has lived a fairly quiet life with her husband Robert and their three children.
But on March 30, Giuffre posted a photograph on Instagram from her hospital bed stating doctors had told her she had just four days left to live.
She posted a pic of her in a hospital bed to her 21,000 followers looking bruised, claiming her car had been hit by a bus at 70mph, and said she was fatally ill with kidney failure.
But Western Australia Police later dismissed the collision with the bus as ‘minor’ and said no-one had been hurt in the incident.
The photo she posted showed discoloration to Giuffre’s face and chest which had been described as severe bruising.
On April 7 she was discharged from Sir Charles Gairdner Hospital in Perth after a week-long stay and chose to slip out the backdoor rather than face waiting media.
Giuffre recently returned to Instagram exactly two weeks after posting a battered and bruised bus crash selfie from her hospital bed.
Taking to the stories feature on the social media app, Giuffre initially shared a Youtube link to the chart-topping break up song by Australian artist Gotye ‘Somebody that I use to know.’
Having recently separated after 22 years of marriage they no longer live together at their lavish $1.9million mansion in a Perth beachside suburb .
However, Daily Mail Australia subsequently spoke to the bus driver Ross Munns and multiple eye witnesses to the crash who confirmed it was a ‘minor bump.’
Daily Mail Australia also revealed Giuffre had been listed to face court ten days before the crash over an alleged breach of the family violence restraining order.
Then, earlier this month she then made a fresh series of garbled posts on Instagram.
Giuffre also shared a YouTube link to the chart-topping break up song by Australian artist Gotye, Somebody That I Used To Know.
On April 7 she was discharged from Sir Charles Gairdner Hospital in Perth after a week-long stay and chose to slip out the backdoor rather than face waiting media.
She was listed to face Joondalup Magistrates Court on April 9 on a domestic violence charge but was not required to appear in person and stayed away.
The following day she was spotted by Daily Mail Australia photographer where she flipped her middle finger as her brother Danny Wilson drove off in the $150,000 Chevrolet Silverado they were traveling in.
According to her father Sky Roberts, his daughter had been going through a ‘messy’ divorce and no longer lives with Robert, her husband of 22 years, at their $1.9million beachside mansion in Perth.
Two days before the car crash, on March 22, Giuffre posted a sun-dappled picture of her children on a beach, accompanied by an apparent desperate plea to see them.
‘My beautiful babies have no clue how much I love them and they’re being poisoned with lies,’ she posted.
‘I miss them so very much. I have been through hell and 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.’
In the post from her hospital bed a week later, Giuffre said: ‘I’ve gone into kidney renal failure, they’ve given me four days to live, transferring me to a specialist hospital in urology.’
‘I’m ready to go, just not until I see my babies one last time. My heart is shattered and every day that passes my sadness only deepens.’
