Virginia Giuffre: Everything to Know About Her Life Before Her Tragic Death at 41

Who Is Virginia Giuffre?

Born Virginia Louise Roberts, later known as Virginia Giuffre, she was welcomed on August 9, 1983, in Sacramento. Her parents were Lynn and Sky Roberts. When she was four years old, the family relocated to Palm Beach County, where her father worked as a maintenance manager at Mar-a-Lago, President Donald Trump’s resort in Palm Beach, Florida.

After being molested by a close family friend until the age of seven, Virginia ran away from home. Over the next few years, she lived in foster homes, stayed with an aunt in California, and spent time in the Haight-Ashbury neighborhood of San Francisco, a former hippie haven.

At 14, Virginia lived on the streets and spent six months with a 65-year-old sex trafficker who abused her. Compared to living on the streets or earning $9 an hour during her summer job at Mar-a-Lago, Epstein’s upcoming offer seemed far more enticing.

How Virginia Became Famous

In 2009, Virginia, identified then as Jane Doe 102, made headlines when she sued Epstein. She accused him and British socialite Ghislaine Maxwell of recruiting her into Epstein’s sex-trafficking ring when she was a minor. He had promised her a chance to become a professional masseuse.

During interviews and depositions, Virginia said she was recruited in 2000 while working as a locker room attendant at Mar-a-Lago. She recalled reading a massage therapy manual when Maxwell approached her, offering an opportunity to become Epstein’s traveling masseuse.

Epstein offered her $200 for massages several times a day, an offer that, as Nigel Cawthorne wrote in his 2022 book, “Virginia had determined for herself she could not refuse.” Virginia claimed the pair instead groomed her to perform sexual services for wealthy men.

Speaking to a publication in 2019, she shared that she was “passed around like a platter of fruit” to Epstein’s friends and traveled the world on private jets. At age 19, in 2002, she tried to escape by asking him to fund her enrollment at the International Training Massage School in Thailand.

Epstein agreed on the condition that she would recruit a young local girl there and bring her back to the US. However, while in Thailand, Virginia met Robert Giuffre, an Australian martial arts instructor. They married ten days later, allowing her to escape Epstein’s grip.

When she called Epstein to say she would not return or bring back a new victim, he allegedly said, “Have a nice life,” and hung up. Virginia and Robert went on to welcome three children: Christian, Noah, and Emily.

The family moved between Australia, Colorado, and Florida before settling in Perth in 2020. In 2007, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) contacted Virginia during their investigation into Epstein, but she refused to cooperate out of fear.

In a 2019 interview, she explained that giving birth to her daughter Emily in 2010 motivated her to go public about her assaults. She also revealed why she initially agreed to work with Epstein and Maxwell.

Virginia said, “They seemed like nice people,” adding, “so I trusted them, and I told them I’d had a really hard time in my life up until then — I’d been a runaway, I’d been sexually abused, physically abused. That was the worst thing I could have told them, because now they knew how vulnerable I was.”

In 2015, she became the first Epstein victim to give up her anonymity and share her story publicly. She sold her account to The Mail on Sunday, a British tabloid. In Cawthorne’s book, she recalled, “Basically, I was training to be a [sex worker] for him and his friends who shared his interest in young girls.”

“Ghislaine told me that I have to do for Andrew what I do for Jeffrey,” she added. That same year, she sued Maxwell for defamation after being called a liar, and two years later, they settled for an undisclosed sum.

Virginia also accused Epstein and Maxwell of forcing her to sleep with Prince Andrew, the Duke of York. The prince denied the allegations, but he stepped down from royal duties in 2019.

That same year, Epstein, a multimillionaire financier, was arrested and charged with sex trafficking and conspiracy. He was accused of soliciting teenage girls to perform massages that escalated into sexual acts. Federal prosecutors in the Southern District of New York brought the charges against him.

Barely a month after Epstein’s arrest—and a day after documents from Virginia’s successful defamation lawsuit were released—he was found dead in his cell at the Metropolitan Correctional Center.

He died by hanging at age 66 in Lower Manhattan, and his death was ruled a suicide. In 2021, Maxwell was convicted of sex trafficking and other offenses and sentenced to 20 years in prison. After Epstein’s death, Virginia continued her legal fight against Prince Andrew.

Going After a Royal

In 2021, Virginia sued Prince Andrew, alleging he sexually assaulted her at Maxwell’s London home and Epstein’s properties in Manhattan and Little St. James, in the Virgin Islands. A photograph showing Andrew with his arm around her waist was widely published.

Although the British royal claimed he had no memory of the occasion, he eventually agreed to settle the lawsuit. The following year, Andrew issued a statement praising Virginia for speaking out and pledged to “demonstrate his regret” for his association with Epstein “by supporting the fight against the evils of sex trafficking, and by supporting its victims.”

The 2022 out-of-court New York settlement awarded money to Virginia and her charity, now called Speak Out, Act, Reclaim. It was worth over $16 million or £12 million. However, the agreement did not admit liability.

Sadly, Virginia’s fight for justice came to a tragic end after she was involved in a deadly car crash and exposed troubling issues in her marriage.

What Virginia Experienced Months Before Her Death

In late March 2025, Virginia posted a shocking image on Instagram, showing herself bruised and battered while lying in a hospital bed. She revealed she had nearly died after the car she was in was struck by a school bus traveling over 49 mph.

She stated, “I’ve gone into kidney renal failure.” Virginia explained that doctors gave her only four days to live, and she had been transferred to a specialist hospital in urology. However, according to a report, police contradicted her claims, stating that the car accident was only a “minor crash” with no serious injuries reported.

Meanwhile, sources close to Virginia said her post was a “mistake.” Soon after, she made serious allegations against her husband of 22 years, claiming he had abused her.

In a statement, she admitted, “I was able to fight back against Ghislaine Maxwell and Jeffrey Epstein, who abused and trafficked me. But I was unable to escape the domestic violence in my marriage until recently. After my husband’s latest physical assault, I can no longer stay silent.”

According to Virginia’s representative, she reported an assault on January 9, 2025, to police in Dunsborough, Western Australia. However, her husband was not charged at the time.

Virginia’s brother, Sky Roberts, alleged that Robert assaulted her during a family trip to celebrate one of their children’s birthdays. The attack was reportedly so severe that Virginia suffered a cracked sternum, a perforated eye, and other injuries.

Her spokeswoman said she had to be hospitalized for her injuries. In February 2025, Robert shocked her family when he allegedly retaliated by taking out a restraining order against her.

He filed a family violence restraining order, claiming that she had become violent toward him. “He just put his in place first,” Sky explained. “He beat her to the punch. And so, now, she’s on the defense,” he added.

The restraining order granted him primary custody of their children and barred Virginia from contacting them. The order prevented her from seeing her three children, aged 19, 16, and 15, until June. The situation took a heavy toll on her.

Her brother stated, “At the end of the day, her kids are the most important thing in her life. She loves those babies.” On February 2, Robert accused Virginia of breaching the restraining order by texting him, though she denied the claim.

On April 3, 2025, Sky said, “It’s the worst pain in the world to not have access to your children.” He added, “Can you imagine the pain? I will tell you, all the physical (pain) will never amount to the pain of being separated from your children in that way.”

In an emailed statement, her husband’s attorney said, “Unfortunately, as the issues you raise are before the Courts in Australia, both he and anyone associated with the case, including Ms Giuffre or her agents, are prohibited from discussing or utilizing the media. Therefore, there is no comment.”

In March 2025, Virginia shared a carousel of pictures of her children on Instagram, expressing her deep love for them. She noted that they “don’t know how much I love them” because “they’re being poisoned with lies.” Virginia also confessed how much she missed them.

“I have been through hell & back in my 41 years but this is incredibly hurting me worse than anything else. Hurt me, abuse me but don’t take my babies. My heart is shattered and every day that passes my sadness only deepens 😔 [sic],” she wrote.

Sky and Amanda, her sister-in-law, revealed that Virginia and Robert had been experiencing marital issues for a while and had separated around August 2023. However, in November 2023, Virginia celebrated her husband on Instagram, writing, “My hubby, best friend, lover, father of our children and [sic] the greatest man I know ♥️.”

The following month, she marked their anniversary with a throwback post captioned, “Me & my happily ever after 🌷21 years ago this amazing man rescued me from Epstein & Maxwell’s clutches. I thank God everyday [sic] for putting this beautiful man in my life! 🦋I love you Robbie G 🔥🔥❤️❤️🌟🌟.”