NOTE: This story contains references to sexual violence and suicide*
Virginia Roberts Giuffre posthumous memoir Nobody’s Girl is not an easy book to read, and nor should it be. It is a harrowing and truly honest account of some of the most horrific acts one person could do to another. Giuffre drags the reader into the world she was forced to inhabit, a world built on exploitation and power. Alongside dozens of other girls, Giuffre was trafficked by multi-millionaire Jeffrey Epstein.
Epstein trafficked his girls to numerous politicians and businesses. Among them, Prince Andrew, who in their first encounter said, “My daughters are just a little younger than you… He was friendly enough, but still entitled — as if he believed having sex with me was his birthright.” Others included Harvard law professor Alan Dershowitz, modeling agent Jean-Luc Brunel, and a well-known Prime Minister. It should be noted that in the UK and Irish editions, the Prime Minister is referred to only as “Minister,” and Giuffre recounts his attack as “the most brutal of all,” this attack took place in the early 2000s. Throughout memoir, Giuffre refers to these men simply as Billionaire #1, Billionaire #2, and so on. The choice to do this feels both deliberate and defiant.
While Giuffre became well-known for speaking out about her victimisation by Epstein and Ghisliaine Maxwell, Epstein’s co-conspirator and supposed Madam, her story is much more than that. In the opening chapters of the novel, Giuffre talks of being molested by her father and her father’s friends. Giuffre’s childhood trauma sets her up as she describes as the “perfect victim” for sex trafficking. Having repeatedly run away from her unstable home life, coming from a lower class background, as well as struggling with drug and alcohol addiction Giuffre was repeatdly failed by American systems which were designed to protect and prevent such things from happening. When Giuffre landed a job at Mar-a-Lago, a Palm Beach private members club owned by current US President Donald Trump, she was eager to prove herself. Within a few weeks of working Giuffre was approached by Ghislaine Maxwell. Maxwell offered Giuffre, who was fifteen at the time, side work as a masseuse. After accepting Giuffre was taken to Epstein’s mansion on El Brillo Way in Palm Beach where she was then expected to service him. The first time Giuffre went to El Brillo Way, Epstein asked her several questions about her personal life, including loosing her virginity; she writes, “Tell me about your first time,” Who’d ever heard of an employer asking an applicant about losing her virginity? But I wanted this job, so I took a deep breath and described my rough childhood. I’d been abused by a family friend, I said vaguely, and spent time on the street as a runaway. Epstein didn’t recoil. Instead, he made light of it, teasing me for being “a naughty girl.”
Nobody’s Girl is one of the most heartbreaking memoirs I have ever read and at no point in the story does it get easier. Every graphic retelling is a reminder of the evil in the world and sadly many of the men involved will get away with what they have done. Giuffre forces her readers to confront some of the darkest corners of humanity. Her honesty is not comfortable; it’s shattering. The memoir doesn’t just expose Epstein and Maxwell’s monstrous network; it exposes an entire system that enabled it, the private jets, the “charity donations,” the open secrets whispered amongst the elite. Giuffre’s story becomes more than just her own; it becomes a mirror held up to a society that protects power before it protects children.
Giuffe committed suicide on April 25th, 2025 almost three decades after being free from Epstein and Maxwell. She is survived by her husband Robbie and her three children who live in Australia. In 2015 she launched her nonprofit Speak Out, Act, Reclaim (SOAR). SOAR advocates for victims of sex trafficking. It is important to remember Virginia as more than one of “Epstein’s Girls”; she is a mother, a daughter, an advocate, and a survivor.
Jeffrey Epstein committed suicide on August 10th, 2019 while awaiting trial at the Metropolitan Correctional Center. Ghislaine Maxwell is serving a 20 year sentence for sex trafficking at a Federal Prison Camp in Texas. Former Prince Andrew has been stripped of all his royal titles and removed from the line of succession. Jeffrey Epstein kept specific records of all visitors to his private island, where he trafficked girls, as well as his various homes in Palm Beach, New York, Paris, and New Mexico. The Epstein records remain sealed at the will of the United States Congress, Senate, and the current President.
If you or a loved one is being endangered by sex trafficking or domestic violence, or is considering suicide, help is available:
National Domestic Violence Hotline: 1800 341 900
Samaritans Ireland: 116 123
Human Trafficking Hotline: 01 674-0200
