- Prince Andrew and Jeffrey Epstein accuser Virginia Giuffre died at 41
- Giuffre was found unresponsive at home in Western Australia
- Her family have revealed the cause of her death
Virginia Giuffre, who accused Prince Andrew and Jeffrey Epstein of sexual abuse when she was 17, has died at the age of 41.
Police were called to a home in the Neergabby area of Western Australia, where Virginia was found unresponsive, her family said.
Read more: Tributes pour in for the late Pope Francis
In a statement released on Friday relatives said she was a “fierce warrior in the fight against sexual abuse”, and that the “toll of abuse… became unbearable”.
They added the mother of three was “the light that lifted so many survivors”.
Read more: Michelle Trachtenberg: What was Her Cause of Death?
Giuffre’s final Instagram post three weeks ago said she had been seriously injured in a car accident. The caption included “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… Thank you all for being the wonderful people of the world and for being a great part of my life. Godbless you all xx Virginia 😔🙏🦋”
However, the local police disputed the severity of the crash and Giuffre’s family later said she had not intended to make the news of the accident public.
What was Virginia Giuffre’s cause of death?
Giuffre “lost her life to suicide, after being a lifelong victim of sexual abuse and sex trafficking”, her family confirmed.
The statement adds that “The death is being investigated by Major Crime detectives; early indication is the death is not suspicious.”
Long-time spokesperson for Giuffre, Dini von Mueffling, described her as “one of the most extraordinary human beings I have ever had the honour to know”.
Sigrid McCawley, a lawyer for Giuffre, said in a statement: “Her courage pushed me to fight harder, and her strength was awe-inspiring.”
She added, “The world has lost an amazing human being today. Rest in peace, my sweet angel.”
Virginia Giuffre was a prominent campaigner
American-born Giuffre was one of the most outspoken accusers of convicted sex offenders Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell, his former girlfriend.
In 2015, she founded Speak Out, Act, Reclaim (SOAR) – a non-profit organization to help survivors of sex trafficking.
She sued Prince Andrew in 2021, claiming that Epstein and Maxwell sex-trafficked her to him and that she was forced to have sexual relations with the Duke of York on three occasions when she was a teenager.
After making her allegations public, she became a prominent campaigner and was closely associated with the Me Too movement.
The prince, who has strenuously denied all claims against him, reached an out-of-court settlement with her in 2022.
Epstein took his own life in jail while awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges in 2019 and Maxwell is currently serving a 20-year prison sentence for conspiring with him to sexually abuse minors.
