Virginia Giuffre, Jeffrey Epstein Accuser, Dies by Suicide at 41
Content warning: This story discusses suicide and sexual abuse.
Virginia Giuffre, one of Jeffrey Epstein's accusers, has died.
Giuffre died by suicide in Neergabby, Australia, where she had been living for years, her family told NBC News on April 25. She was 41.
"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 the outlet. "She lost her life to suicide, after being a lifelong victim of sexual abuse and sex trafficking."
"Virginia was a fierce warrior in the fight against sexual abuse and sex trafficking," the statement continued. "She was the light that lifted so many survivors."
Her family added, “In the end, the toll of abuse is so heavy that it became unbearable for Virginia to handle its weight."
Giuffre alleged she had been trafficked by Epstein to his friend Prince Andrew—the younger brother of King Charles III—and said the British royal sexually abused her when she was 17. Andrew has denied any wrongdoing.
Last month, Giuffre—who shares three kids with estranged husband Robert Giuffre—prepared for the worst after she said she suffered a devastating car crash, with doctors saying she had only days left to live.
"I've gone into kidney renal failure," she wrote on Instagram March 30. "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," she shared. "But you know what they say about wishes. S--T in one hand and wish in the other & I guarantee it’s still going to be s--t at the end of the day."
However, Giuffre was ultimately released from the hospital days later, her rep confirmed to People April 7.
Giuffre's death comes six years after Epstein died by suicide in a New York jail while awaiting trial on federal sex trafficking charges.
She went on to file a federal lawsuit against Andrew in 2021, which he settled the following year. He has denied they've had sex, per NBC News.
Following Giuffre's passing, her brother Danny Wilson told NBC News about her motivation for speaking out about her alleged abuse.
"Her biggest push was, 'If I don’t do this, nobody’s going to do it,'" he said. "She was in real physical pain—suffered from renal failure. But I think that the mental pain was worse."
Wilson said his sister "pushed so hard to snuff the evil out" of the world.
Her rep Dini von Mueffling added of her legacy, "Virginia was one of the most extraordinary human beings I have ever had the honor to know."
(E! and NBC News are both part of the NBCUniversal family.)
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