‘Prince Andrew believed having sex with me was his birthright’: Virginia Giuffre on her abuse at the hands of Epstein, Maxwell and the king’s brother
In a collection of memoirs published behind Virginia Roberts-Juffrey, she recalls her experience of being seduced by a “top predator” at the Sea Lake estate when she was 16, how she was trafficked, forced into relationships with a series of wealthy and powerful men, and how everyone knew about it at the time.
and Virginia Juffrey.
15 October 2025 (Wednesday) UK Summer Time 19:31
Virginia Joffrey committed suicide on April 25, 2025.
In February 2022, her lawyers reached a settlement with Prince Andrew. The settlement did not require Prince Andrew to admit any responsibility, and he still denies Jufrey's accusations-including denying that he had sexual relations with Jufrey, denying that Jufrey was trafficked to him by Epstein, and even denying that he had ever met with Jufrey.
This article is adapted from Virginia Roberts Juffrey's memoir Nobody's Girl: A Memoir of Surviving Abuse and Fighting for Justice, which will be published on October 21, 2025.
I still remember the first time I walked into the sea lake mansion to repair the clean courtyard. It was early in the morning — my father started working at 7 a.m. and I took his car to work. The air was dull and wet, and the club’s 20 acres of well-maintained greenery and lawn seemed to be slightly lit.
My father was in charge ofining the indoor air conditioning in the resort, not to mention the five tournament-level tennis courts, so he was very pleased with the layout here. I remember he first took me for a brief visit, then referred me to the recruitment manager, and the other agreed to hire me. On the first day, I got a uniform — a white horse shirt and a white short dress with the badge of Sea Lake House, and a badge with the big letter “Jenna” (although my real name is Virginia, my family calls me Jena).
A few days later, my father said he wanted to introduce me to Mr. Trump himself. They're not technically friends. But my father worked hard, and Trump appreciated that-I've seen photos of them taking photos together, shaking hands. So one day, my father took me to Trump's office. "This is my daughter," the father said, with pride in his voice. Trump was very friendly and he told me it was great that I could work here. "Do you like children?" He asks. "Will you babysit?" He explains that he has several houses next to the resort and will lend them to friends. Before long, I was able to earn some extra money a few nights a week to help those elite people look after the children.
But what really made me see a better dawn for the first time was my daily work. Like the resort itself, the water spa is brilliant, luxuriously decorated, dust-free, glowing. There is a huge golden bathtub, as if it were a god bathing item. I am amazed at the space where everyone seems to feel unparalleled calm. My job includes washing tea, cleaning the bathroom, supplementing towels, these jobs made me just stay outside the core area of the massage room, but I can see the kind of relaxation when the guests come out. I suddenly thought that if I received the right training, I might eventually be able to help others relieve stress. I thought, maybe their healing process could also nourish myself.
On a hot afternoon a few weeks before my 17th birthday, I was walking toward the Sea Lake House Water Centre to prepare for work, and a car slowly stopped behind me. In the car was a British lady named Gisele Maxwell, and her driver, Juan Alesi Maxwell, who insisted on calling him “John.” Alesi later testified that when Maxwell saw me that day—seeing my golden hair, thin body, and the apparent “little” appearance he said—she ordered him from the back seat: “Stop, John, stop!”
Alicia did it.Later I learned that Maxwell had come down from the car and followed me.At that time I didn't know that a top predator was approaching me.
Imagine a girl in a clean white uniform sitting behind the marble front desk. This girl has a thin body, a face full of dwarf dolls, and a golden long-haired hair band behind her head. In this hot and distressing afternoon, there is no one in the spa, so the girl sits in the front desk, reading an anatomical book borrowed from the library. She hopes to find what she has long missed by studying this book: the goal of life.
I looked up from the book and saw a distinguished lady with short dark hair striding towards me.
“Hello,” said the lady enthusiastically. She looks almost forty years old, and a British accent reminds me of Mary Poppins in “Happy Humans.” I don’t know what brand she’s wearing, but I’m sure her bag is more expensive than my father’s truck. She stretches out her hand and wants to shake her hand with me, “I’m Gillan Maxwell,” she said, reading her name as “Gillan.” I pointed to my brand name, “I’m Jenna,” I smiled, “This is how they taught me to be a guest.”
I thought of my job responsibilities and asked the charming lady what she wanted to drink, and she chose hot tea. I went back with a cup of hot tea in my hand. I thought it was over, but she continued to talk to me. Maxwell said that she knew a wealthy man — she called him a long-time member of Sea Lake Farm — who was looking for a massage worker to accompany him,” she said, “Come after work tonight.”
Even today, more than 20 years later, I still remember how excited I was at the time.I followed her orders and recorded her phone number and the address of her wealthy friend: Elbrillo Road 358 and hoped to see you soon,” Maxwell said, gently turning her wrist and waving her right hand.
A few hours later, my father drove me to El Brillo Road. It was only a five-minute drive and we didn't talk much. No one needs to explain to my father the importance of making money-he knows better than anyone.
When we arrived at our destination, we saw a spacious two-storey villa with six bedrooms. In countless TV documentaries, the house was photographed as elegant and white as it was later renovated. But in the summer of 2000, the house we stopped at the door was brightly pink, like the colour of the petobismore stomach.
When I was a girl, Epstein asked me a lot of questions: Do you have brothers and sisters, where do you go to high school, do you take contraceptives?”
Before Dad could turn off the engine, I jumped out of the car, walked to the wide wooden front door, and rang the doorbell. Maxwell opened the door and walked out. "Thank you so much for bringing her here," she said to her father with a big smile, but looking back now, she obviously wanted him to leave quickly.
"Jeffrey's been waiting for you," she said, and began to walk upstairs."Come on."
I followed behind her, trying not to stare at the wall, which was covered with photos and paintings of naked women. Is this how the elegant taste of rich people decorate houses?
As we reached the second-floor corridor, Maxwell turned right and led me into a bedroom. We walked a U-shaped route around a king-size bed and entered a nearby room with a massage table. A naked man was lying face down on the massage table, his head resting on his folded arms, but when he heard the sound of us entering, he looked up slightly and looked at me. I still remember his thick eyebrows and the deep wrinkles on his face when he grinned.
“Call me Jeffrey Epstein,” Maxwell said, “but I didn’t have time to speak, and the man said to me, “Call me Jeffrey.”
When I saw Epstein’s glowing back, I looked at Maxwell and wondered what to do.I had never done a massage before, let alone tell someone about it.But I still thought in my heart, “Shouldn’t he have to cover the bed?”
Palm Beach is only 16 miles from my hometown, Loksahach, but the economic divide makes it feel far off the sky. I have to learn how to behave with rich people. Moreover, while the man on the massage bed is naked, I am not alone with him — there is a woman with me, which makes me a little relaxed.
Maxwell began to give me a “class”. she said that when massage, my one palm must always be attached to the customer’s skin so that it’s crucial not to scare the other’s coherence and smoothness,” she explained. We started to massage the tail and arch from behind his legs and then slowly move upwards. When massage to the buttocks, I tried to take it quickly and press directly to his lower back. But Maxwell put his hand on my hand and guided me toward his buttocks and it’s important that you can’t ignore any part of the body,” she said, “If you jump and press, the blood can’t circulate properly.”
“We know where your brother was at school,” Epstein said, “you can’t tell anyone what happened in this house.”
Later, I understood how the two of them, step by step, and premeditated, collapsed my psychological defense. Every time I felt a hint of unease, I just glanced at Maxwell and her expression seemed to tell me that "you are overreacting". In this way, the so-called "massage class" lasted for about half an hour-on the surface, this is a normal massage teaching class.
Epstein asked me a lot of questions. "Do you have brothers and sisters?" I replied that I have two younger brothers. "Which high school did you go to?" I told him I dropped out of school after finishing ninth grade, but I was only 16 years old. "Do you take birth control pills?" Epstein asked again. Isn't it weird to ask such questions during an interview? But Epstein said it was just one way for him to get to know me. After all, I may be accompanying him on a business trip soon. I told him I was taking birth control pills.
"You're doing well," Maxwell said, keeping my hands in sync with hers.
"Tell me about your first (sexual act)," Epstein went on to say. I hesitated. Who ever heard of employers asking job seekers about their "first night"? But I wanted the job so badly that I took a deep breath and told him about my bumpy childhood. I said vaguely that I had been assaulted by a friend of my family and had run away from home and lived on the street. Instead of showing any disgust, Epstein made a joke about it lightly, teasing me as a "naughty girl".
“I don’t shrink,” I defended, “I’m a good girl, but I’m always careless about getting into a bad situation.”
Epstein raised his head and laughed at me, and it didn’t matter,” he said, “I like the skinny girls.”
Then he turned and lay down on his back. I saw his erect genitals and was terrified. I subconsciously raised my hands, as if saying, “Don’t come.” but when I looked at Maxwell, she calmed her face. She completely ignored Epstein’s erect genitals, put her hands on his right chest muscle, and started rubbing like this,” she said, continuing to act as if nothing had happened, “to push the blood out of the heart.”
Epstein winked at her, then reached out to his crotch. "You don't mind, do you?" He asked as he began to masturbate.
It was at this moment that something in my heart collapsed completely. Otherwise, I could not explain why the following memories would be broken into a sharp piece: Maxwell took off his clothes and had a horrific smile on his face; Maxwell walked behind me, pulled off the robes of my dress, and torn my Sea Lake Mansion shirt from my head; Epstein and Maxwell laughed at my underwear — with a little love pattern printed on it — and she was still wearing a little girl’s underwear,” said Epstein.
How many times have I trusted others and ended up only in exchange for hurt and humiliation?I can feel my brain start to "stop".My body cannot escape this room, but my consciousness cannot bear it here, so it puts me into a "automatic mode": obedience, just to survive.
Many young women, including myself, have been accused of returning to his home after knowing Epstein’s intentions. Somebody asks, since you can easily leave, why complain about being abused? But this statement ignores what many of us encountered before meeting Epstein, and how well he was able to identify those girls who were vulnerable to trauma. A few of us suffered abuse or rape in childhood; many came from poverty and even homelessness. We are those girls who don’t care, and Epstein pretends to care about how we look. He is a manipulative master, throwing a seemingly life-saving “wire” to those girls who are on the brink of collapse. If they want to be dancers, he offers dance lessons; if they want to be actors, he says they’ll help them
One day, probably two weeks after I met them, Epstein upped his leverage. I was upstairs, cleaning up the mess of another "massage" when Epstein asked me to go to his office. "You quit your job in Mar-a-Lago," he said, "and work for me full-time." It was done to make it easier for me, he said. But he has a few conditions: As his employee, I must be at his disposal at all times, day and night. One more thing: I can't live in my parents' trailer anymore. He said that if I came in and out in the middle of the night, it might arouse their suspicions. He pulled out a wad of cash-about $2,500. "With that money," he said, "rent yourself an apartment."
I’ve never had so much money in my life. I thanked him, and despite a bit of worry, I’ve quietly climbed my mind. By that time, I’ve seen dozens of girls come in and out of his house. Many people came only once and then never appeared again. If he could “throw them away” so quickly, would he eventually abandon me too? Epstein must have noticed my doubts as he went around behind the desk, took a vague photo and handed it to me. The photo was taken from a distance, but the person above was undoubtedly my brother.
(Composite here: Virginia Roberts-Juffrey stands in the foreground, wearing a light pink sleevy shirt, surrounded by a lot of people, including Naomi Campbell and her then partner Flavio Briatore)
2001 at Naomi Campbell’s 31st birthday party in Saint Tropez. Photo source: Pool Lafargue/Lenhof/Gamma-Rapho/Getty Images
“We know where your brother is at school,” Epstein said. he stopped for a moment, let the amount of the word slowly penetrate, and then said, “You can’t tell anyone about what’s happening in this house.” he laughed on his face, but the meaning of the threat was not clear, and the Palm Beach Police Department was my responsibility,” he said, “so even if you said it, they would not be okay.”
From the very beginning, Epstein and Maxwell asked me to keep the promise of being ready. Sometimes I got a phone call in the morning. I arrived there and had sex on Epstein’s request, and then stayed at his spacious pool while he was working. If Maxwell was there, they would often let me have sex with her too. She always put a box full of vibrators and other sex toys in her hand for this type of “activity.” But she never asked me to have sex alone—only when I was with Epstein. Sometimes there would be other girls there, and I would spend the whole day on Erbil Road.
In October 2000, Maxwell flew to New York to meet her old friend Prince Andrew, the second son of Queen Elizabeth II. On Halloween, Maxwell and Prince Andrew attended a party hosted by German supermodel Heidi Krum at the Hudson Hotel along with other guests, including Donald Trump and his future wife Melania Krause. Maxwell is proud to be able to make friends with celebrities, especially male celebrities. She always likes to show off that she can reach former President Bill Clinton with a phone call; during Clinton's administration, she and Epstein went to the White House.
Although they usually sleep in separate rooms and rarely kiss or hold hands, it seems to me that Maxwell and Epstein's lives are entirely symbiotic. Epstein called Maxwell his best friend and valued her ability to build connections for him and meet powerful people. In turn, Maxwell was grateful to Epstein-after the death of her father, media magnate Robert Maxwell, she was accustomed to living a luxurious life that could not maintain, and Epstein had the ability to provide such a life for her. In social situations, Maxwell usually appears lively and cheerful and is the focus of parties. But in Epstein's home, she was more like a "party planner": arranging and organizing the girls she lured to have sex with Epstein, and letting them come in a steady stream. Over time, I no longer felt that Epstein and Maxwell were lovers, but more like two halves of an evil whole.
Looking back at that time, I was not very proud of my performance. Though I now know as an adult that I was only struggling to survive when I was a child, I still feel embarrassed about my obedience at the time. I am increasingly dependent on Zano (Applone) and other drugs—these are all prescribed to me by the doctor Maxwell. Sometimes, when I really can’t stand it, I eat as many as eight Zanoes a day.
Epstein and Maxwell began to "lend" me to their friends. The first time, Epstein made it sound like he was taking me into a whole new stage of "massage training", which sounded exciting. Epstein called my new "client" a couple. The husband is rich and the wife is pregnant. Epstein said both couples need massages. They stayed at the Brickles Hotel in Palm Beach-an upscale hotel not far from El Brillo Road. Epstein also specifically explained how I should "serve" them. "Make her (wife) comfortable. But most of the energy will be on him (her husband)." Hearing this, I looked up. Does he mean what I think he means? "Give him what he wants," Epstein said clearly."Just like you did to me."
That night, I drove to the Brickle Hotel. The man—I temporarily called him “Millionaire No. 1”—and his wife lived in an apartment in a hotel residential area. After I arrived, they took me to the bedroom and let me massage her first. Maxwell also joked before warning me that if I was “in the wrong way” it could lead to a wife’s premature birth. I knew nothing about pregnancy massage but did my best to avoid her ankle. After about 45 minutes of massage, the wife said she was going to sleep.
It was dark in the apartment, and I walked into the living room and saw “Millionaire One” getting rid of his clothes. I was lucky and hoped that the stranger would just really want to massage. When I was rubbing his muscles, he raised his head and grumbled and asked me: “Would you be more comfortable working with your body?” I was disappointed, but not surprised. We had sex on the floor.
The second person I was "loaned" to was a psychology professor whose research Epstein had been funding. This man is short and has a strange character. The white hair on his head has become sparse. Judging from his nervous expression, he does not seem to have much contact with women. The man never directly asked for sex, but Epstein had made it clear that this was what he wanted. "Treat him well like you did your first customer," Epstein said. So when the professor later mentioned,"I wanted to try your famous massage-Jeffrey praised it so many times," I did. But we only had one sex. The next night, the man said he wanted to watch a movie and didn't want to do anything else. Although I breathed a sigh of relief, I was still worried that I had upset the professor-and he would tell Epstein about it.
Maxwell told me, “You did well, Prince had a lot of fun.”For “serving” the man called by the newspaper “Good Andy,” Epstein gave me $15,000.
The psychologist was just the first of many prestigious university scholars I was forced to "serve". I didn't know it at the time that Epstein had spent years trying to make friends with the world's most influential thinkers. Epstein stubbornly believes that although he dropped out of college, he is at the same level as those innovators and theorists with degrees. Moreover, because he funded many of their research projects and let them travel on their own private jets, most of these people were willing to accept him.
Scientists weren't the only group Epstein used his vast wealth to woo-and that's why I was trafficked and forced to have sex with many powerful men. They include a candidate who is about to be elected governor of a western state and a former U.S. senator. Since Epstein would not usually introduce the names of these people to me, years later, I learned the identities of some of them when I studied photos of Epstein's accomplices and recognized their faces.
On March 10, 2001, we were in London, living in Maxwell's temporary home-a white townhouse not far from Hyde Park. That morning, Maxwell woke me up in a cheerful tone: "Get up, lazy bastard!" She said today would be a special day. Said I would meet a handsome prince like Cinderella! She also said that her old friend Prince Andrew would come to have dinner with us tonight and we had to prepare well.
I spent most of the day shopping with Maxwell. She bought me an expensive Burberry handbag and three different sets of clothes. After returning to her house, I spread my clothes on the bed. She picked two of them, and they were sexy and mature; the third was the one I won: a short pink V-neck sleeveless T-shirt with a pair of colored sequined jeans embroidered with a staggered horse pattern. After taking a shower and drying my hair, I put on these jeans and the T-shirt-the clothes were too short and exposed a small section of my waist. Maxwell wasn't too happy with it, but like most teenage girls at the time, I admired Britney Spears and Christina Aguilera, and I felt the third outfit was in line with their style.
After Prince Andrew arrived that night, Maxwell was more beautiful than usual. After introducing me to the Prince, she cried out, “Get guess how old Jane is?” and the 41 year-old Duke of York (prince Andrew’s prince) guessed right: “My daughters are only a little smaller than you,” he explained to me, so he could guess the age.
Today's Prince Andrew is bloated, gray-haired and obvious double chin. At that time, he was relatively strong, with neat short brown hair and youthful eyes. He has long been called the "playboy" of the British royal family. I saw Epstein calling him "Andy" and calling him that after that.
(Composite here: Prince Andrew on the left, his arm holding the waist of Virginia Roberts-Juffrey; Gislein Maxwell on the right, on the doorframe)
In 2001, at Maxwell's home in London, with a photograph of Prince Andrew and Gisele Maxwell. Photo source: Virginia Roberts Juffrey provided
While we were chatting in the door hall of Maxwell’s house, I suddenly thought of one thing: If I saw Prince Andrew as a famous person but didn’t take a picture, my mom’t forgive me. I ran back to the room, took a Kodak FunSaver one-time camera, and then returned and handed it to Epstein. I remember that the Prince stretched out his arm and grabbed my waist, and Maxwell smiled next to me. Epstein pressed the door.
After a little talk, the four of us walked into the cold air of spring. We went to a restaurant for dinner and then to a high-end nightclub called “Tramp.” The prince went to the bar and gave me a cocktail and then invited me to dance. His dance was a bit dull and I still remembered he had a lot of sweat. On the way back, Maxwell told me, “After coming home, you treat him like Jeffrey (Prince Andrew).”
Once home, Maxwell and Epstein said goodnight and went upstairs-an apparent hint that it was time for me to "entertain" the prince. Over the years, I have reflected on his behavior at that time countless times. He was friendly on the surface, but there was a sense of privilege in his bones-as if he thought it was his birthright to have sex with me. I put him a bathtub full of hot water. We undressed and went into the bathtub, but didn't stay long because the prince couldn't wait to get to bed. He paid extra "attention" to my feet, stroking my toes and licking my arch. This is the first time I've experienced this kind of thing, and it feels itchy. I was worried that he would let me do the same to him. But I'm overthinking, he seems anxious to have sex. Afterwards, he said "thank you" to me in that cadence of British accent. As far as I can remember, the whole process took less than half an hour.
The next morning, Maxwell told me, “You’re doing well, the prince was having a lot of fun.”For “serving” the man called by the newspaper “Good Andy,” Epstein gave me $15,000.
My second contact with Prince Andrew was about a month later, in Epstein’s joint villa in New York. Epstein welcomed Andrew and took him to the living room—when I and Maxwell were sitting there. Soon after, their other victim, Johanna Sjöberg, also came. Then Maxwell told the prince that she had bought him a joke gift—a doll that looked like him. She suggested that we took a picture with the doll. The prince and I sat down on the couch, and Maxwell put the doll on my legs, and the hand of the doll was on one of my breasts. Then she let Joseph sit on the prince’s legs, and the prince put his hand on Joseph’s breast. The symbolic meaning of this is unmistakable: John and I are Maxwell and Epstein’s dolls behind them.
(Composite here: Sarah Lansham on the left, Virginia Roberts-Juffrey in the middle, followed by several men in costumes, with a camera on the left)
In 2019, Joffrey (Middle) and other women who accused Epstein of sexual abuse together after appearing in court in New York. Photo source: Kevin C Downs/Redux/eyevine
I can’t remember the exact time when I had sex for the third time with Prince Andrew, but I know the place: Epstein’s 72 acre island in the U.S. Virgin Islands. This private island is close to St. Thomas Island, called “Little St. James Island,” but Epstein likes to call it “Little St. Jeff Island.” I also know that it wasn’t just us two at that time – it was a fancy for the U.S. Virgin Islands when I was about 18,” I said in a 2015 oath, “Epstein, Andy (Prince Andrew), and about eight other young girls, we’ve had sex together. The other girls didn’t look like 18 years old and hardly speak English. Epstein also laughed, and communicated with them most easily because they’re the most ‘listening’.”
After giving this testimony, Epstein's pilot stated in his testimony that the code "AP" marked on his flight log on July 4, 2001 referred to Prince Andrew. Epstein, the prince, another lady and I flew back to Palm Beach from St. Thomas that day, he said. I guess that the indulgence party I remember may have happened just a few days before this flight. In that case, I was only 17 years old at that time. I may never be able to determine the exact date. But I knew clearly-because Epstein had told me-that Jean-Luc Brunel, a French model agent who was there at the time, was the "provider" of the other girls involved in the party.
Although Epstein and Maxwell’s crimes have been revealed to a certain extent, we still need to take more action. Because some people still think Epstein is a special case, an outsider. But these people are wrong. Though the number of victims of Epstein’s abuses makes him appear “unique,” he is by no means an outsider. He sees women and girls in the way they can be used at will, as abandoned toys, and is rarely seen among some powerful men who think they can rule over the law. And many of these people still live a normal life, enjoying the benefits of power.
Don't be fooled by the words of those in Epstein's circle-they say they don't know what Epstein is doing. Not only did Epstein not hide what he did, but he even deliberately let others see it with a show-off mentality. And someone did see it-scientists, fundraisers for Ivy League schools and other well-known institutions, corporate giants. They saw it and didn't care.
Virginia Joffrey committed suicide on April 25, 2025.
In February 2022, her lawyers reached a settlement with Prince Andrew. The settlement did not require Prince Andrew to admit any responsibility, and he still denies Jufrey's accusations-including denying that he had sexual relations with Jufrey, denying that Jufrey was trafficked to him by Epstein, and even denying that he had ever met with Jufrey.
This article is adapted from Virginia Roberts Juffrey's memoir Nobody's Girl: A Memoir of Surviving Abuse and Fighting for Justice, which will be published on October 21, 2025.
From this text:https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/oct/15/prince-andrew-virginia-giuffre-abuse-epstein-maxwell