Memoirs of one of Jeffrey Epstein's victims and Prince Andrew published

LondonVirginia Roberts Giuffre was just 16 when she first stepped onto the grounds of Mar-a-Lago, Donald Trump's private club in Palm Beach. She was the daughter of a maintenance technician at the resort and dreamed of a better life. But that summer morning in 2000 would mark the beginning of a nightmare that would haunt her for decades. and that would end up leading him to suicide On April 25 of this year, 2025.

In a fragment of his posthumous memoirs (Nobody's girl: memoir of surviving abuse and fighting for justice) which publishes this Thursday The Guardian In anticipation of the volume's release next week, Giuffre recalls how she is "an alpha predator" —Ghislaine Maxwell, jailed in the United States for sex trafficking—recruited her at the doors of the famous Florida club. And that took her to the Jeffrey Epstein's burrow, the man who sexually enslaved her and turned her into a scapegoat for a network that provided young women to millionaires and figures in the circles of power and jet-setFrom beyond the grave, Giuffre once again accuses Prince Andrew of sexual abuse and of maintaining relationships "as if it were his birthright." Andrew has always denied it.

The account released today begins with a detail that connects her fate to the most powerful name in her circle: Donald Trump. Her father introduced her to him. "Mr. Trump" greeted her warmly and offered her occasional jobs nannying the children of his guests. Giuffre does not accuse the US president (at least not in the excerpt) of having assaulted her or of having been part of Epstein's circle, but her presence at Mar-a-Lago—and the way that world of wealth and impunity unfolded before a teenager—is the backdrop for what, by its tone, is hell.

A few months later, a British woman of exquisite manners, Ghislaine Maxwell, intercepted her as she left work. She told her she knew a wealthy man who needed a personal masseuse. The address she gave her—358 Brillo Way—was Epstein's home, a short walk from Mar-a-Lago. There, Giuffre received her first massage "lesson," which, she claims, escalated into a sexual assault perpetrated by Epstein under Maxwell's watch and complicity. "This is the moment something snapped inside me. How else could I explain why my memories of what came next are shattered into jagged fragments? Maxwell taking off his clothes, a wicked look on his face; Maxwell behind me, unzipping my skirt and pulling me out of it and throwing me away; Maxwell laughing at my underwear, which were covered in little hearts. 'How cute, she's still wearing little girl panties,' Epstein said.

Peripheral Figure

Epstein and Maxwell subjected her to a regime of systematic exploitation. They made her come at any hour, gave her painkillers and antidepressants, and "sent" her to other powerful men: politicians, businessmen, university professors, and even a British prince, Andrew. Giuffre describes in detail her meetings with the Duke of York, on the orders of Epstein and Maxwell: dinners, parties, photos, and three sexual encounters, one on a private island in the Caribbean christened Little Saint Jeff's.

In this world of excess and moral corruption, Trump appears as a peripheral but revealing figure. Giuffre recalls that, when Maxwell and Epstein frequented Mar-a-Lago, Trump also attended parties and mingled with them. In one passage, she cites that Maxwell and Prince Andrew met Trump and Melania Knauss at a Halloween party in New York. There's no evidence that the former president participated in any abuse, but Giuffre emphasizes that "everyone knew what was going on." "Epstein didn't hide anything—he reveled in being seen. And people watched and didn't care." And in this context, Epstein's associate and former partner appears as the high priestess: "In Epstein's house, [Maxwell] functioned more as a party planner: scheduling and organizing the endless parade of girls he recruited to have sex with him. Evil."

The tone of Virginia Roberts Giuffre's story is sad and reflective. Giuffre doesn't seek revenge but rather an understanding of the mechanisms of power and indifference. There is a persistent sense of loss and guilt—the struggle between the child who wanted to survive and the adult who reproaches herself for having been "too docile." "I'm not proud of having returned so many times. But he knew how to detect the invisible wounds," she writes. The published text alternates the precision of memory with the emotional emptiness of trauma: interrupted sentences, fragmented images, silences that reveal more than words.

Giuffre acknowledges that many have wondered why she and other victims didn't leave their abusers sooner. Her response is forceful: "We were girls that no one paid attention to, and Epstein pretended to care about us." The tycoon and Ghislaine Maxwell manipulated them by offering a mirage of stability, jobs, training, or connections. "They gave you the chance at a future, and then they stole your soul."

In fact, as she points out in a fragment of the text, they became his puppets: "My second meeting with Prince Andrew took place at Epstein's house in New York. Epstein received Andrew and led him to the living room, where Maxwell and I were. He announced to the prince that he had bought him a joke gift: a puppet that looked very much like him. He suggested we pose for a photo with it. The prince placed his hand on Sjoberg's breast. The symbolism was impossible to ignore.

The memoirs are intended to give a voice to the victims, and the hypothetical profits from the publication of the book will go to a foundation against the sexual exploitation of minors. Giuffre warns that the most dangerous thing about the whole case is not only what Epstein and Maxwell did, but the network of power and indifference that protected them. "There are still many influential men who believe they are above the law," He writes. And he adds: "Epstein wasn't a solitary monster. He was a mirror of a system that still exists." The witness, more than an accusation, is a warning: "Don't be fooled by those who say they knew nothing. They knew. And they looked the other way." The book will once again raise the ghost of Epstein, which haunts everyone from Prince Andrew to Donald Trump.