Virginia Giuffre, the woman who accused Epstein and Prince Andrew of sexual abuse, has died by suicide

Virginia Giuffre, who was one of the most recognized survivors of the sexual exploitation network of wealthy financier Jeffrey Epstein, and who went on to accuse both him and Prince Andrew of England of sexual abuse, died Friday at age 41 by suicide in the Australian town of Neergabby. "It is with utterly broken hearts that we announce that Virginia passed away last night at her farm in Western Australia. She 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. In the end, the toll of abuse is so heavy that it became unbearable for Virginia to handle its weight," her family said in a statement.

Giuffre was one of the first voices to call for criminal charges against Epstein and all those who for years covered it up. Indeed, many other survivors of the sexual exploitation ring, all of whom were minors, later acknowledged that Giuffre was an essential figure for them in giving them the courage to eventually speak out and denounce the atrocities suffered by both Epstein and his partner Ghislaine Maxwell.

Giuffre played a key role in the collapse of Epstein and Maxwell.

Giuffre also contributed to Maxwell's eventual arrestby having provided authorities with crucial information about her. As she went on to detail, Epstein's partner manipulated her when she was just a teenager into being part of this network, in which she was abused during 1999 and 2002 by both Epstein and other of his powerful friends, including both Prince Andrew and French modeling agent Jean-Luc Brunel.

In 2021, Giuffre filed a federal lawsuit against the monarch, alleging that he had sexually abused her when she was just 17. However, Andrew, who decided to step away from his royal duties once the controversy over his connections to Epstein erupted and has repeatedly denied having had sexual relations with Giuffre,decided to settle the case with an undisclosed payment in 2022.

For his part,Brunel was charged by French authorities in December 2020 with rape of at least one minor and sexual harassment,later dying in his cell in February 2022 by suicide.

Giuffre had claimed not to suffer from suicidal tendencies.

While Giuffre's family confirmed that she had committed suicide, several media outlets and users of the social network X expressed their skepticism about what happened with the California-born American as one of her tweets published in 2019 resurfaced, in which she explicitly stated she did not have any suicidal tendencies and assured that a lot of powerful people wanted to silence her. "I am making it publicly known that in no way, shape or form am I suicidal. I have made this known to my therapist and GP – If something happens to me – in the sake of my family do not let this go away and help me to protect them. Too many evil people want to see me quiteted," Giuffre wrote in 2019.

Who also died by suicide was Epstein himself in August 2019 in a New York jail while awaiting trial on federal human trafficking charges. His death took place four months before Giuffre's tweet.