Virginia Giuffre, who accused Prince Andrew and Jeffrey Epstein of sexual abuse died by suicide.
On Friday, April 25, Virginia’s family gave a statement to PEOPLE in which they announced her death at the age of 41.
“Giuffre 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. She was the light that lifted so many survivors,” they stated.
Her family continued, “Despite all the adversity she faced in her life, she shone so bright. She will be missed beyond measure. The light of her life were her children Christian, Noah, and Emily.”
“It was when she held her newborn daughter in her arms that Virginia realized she had to fight back against those who had abused her and so many others,” the statement added.
Virginia’s family also reflected on their “grave loss” and called her “heroic” for displaying “incredible courage and loving spirit.”
“In the end, the toll of abuse is so heavy that it became unbearable for Virginia to handle its weight. We know that she is with the angels,” they concluded.
Virginia Giuffre accuses Prince Andrew, Jeffrey Epstein of sexual abuse:
Virginia Giuffre accused Prince Andrew and Jeffrey Epstein of sexual abuse in 2021.
She also filed a civil lawsuit against the Duke of York in the US District Court of the Southern District of New York in 2021, in which she alleged that King Charles’s brother raped her when she was a teenager as part of Epstein’s sex trafficking operations.
In 2022, Virginia and Andrew reached an out-of-court settlement reportedly worth around $12 million.
While the Duke denied all the allegations levelled against him, his late mother, Queen Elizabeth II, still stripped him of his military titles as an outcome of the scandal.
