Epstein survivor Anouska De Georgiou reveals heartbreaking moment she came to realisation about abuse

Warning: This article contains discussion of sexual assault which some readers may find distressing.

Jeffrey Epstein survivor Anouska De Georgiou has opened up on the ‘unimaginable abuse’ she faced as a teenager, and the moment a 'switch flipped' years later.

The 49-year-old actress and former model from Surrey was just 16 years old when she first met Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell, having connected with Maxwell through mutual friends. In 2019, she became the first woman from the UK to publicly allege she was abused by Epstein and his longtime associate.

In September last year, De Georgiou bravely told her story in the Capitol as she joined calls for Donald Trump to release all files connected to the convicted sex offender. Millions of documents have since been made public following the passage of the Epstein Files Transparency Act in November.

Now, speaking in an interview for LADbible’s Minutes With series, De Georgiou has detailed the moment a 'switch flipped,' and she realised the severity of the abuse she'd faced.

'I saw how precious and fragile this baby girl was, and I saw that I was that too'

The actress recalled: “I had a daughter in 2013, and I will say there was this, and many of the survivors who I know who've had daughters describe the same experience or a similar experience, where suddenly, I looked at her, and I saw who I was.

"I saw this innocence. I saw how precious and fragile this baby girl was, and I saw that I was that too."

De Georgiou added: "And I had this realisation of what had happened to me and how hard I would fight so that that would never happen to my daughter. And something like a switch flipped for me."

Anouska De Georgiou was the first woman from the UK to publicly allege she was abused by Epstein (LADBible Stories)

The mother continued: "So, I discovered that Virginia Giuffre, whose name I had never heard before, had filed a civil lawsuit against Ghislaine Maxwell.

"When I realised it had happened to her, I found it totally unacceptable that it had happened to somebody else. You know, I had somehow reconciled that I was, I could deal with it, I was strong enough, I could, sort of, deny it and push it down.

"But the fact that it had happened to someone else, I was furious. And I felt this maternal kind of rage, not only in connection with my own daughter and protecting her, but also for Virginia."

Giuffre, who was one of the most prominent accusers of Epstein, died by suicide aged 41 last year.

'The best way to keep somebody imprisoned is to imprison them in their own mind'

During the interview, De Georgiou also opened up about the psychology of being groomed, explaining 'the best way to keep somebody imprisoned is to imprison them in their own mind'.

"What's important to understand is there's a progression, there's an initiation, and there's a progression of grooming, where it's like the boiling of a frog. If you put the frog in cold water and heat it up slowly, it doesn't know it's being boiled. But if you throw a frog in hot water, it jumps out. So I think that grooming process is like being slowly cooked."

Watch De Georgiou's full Minutes With episode below:

Speaking about the moment she found out Epstein had died in 2019, De Georgiou said she was 'so relieved'.

"Many of the other survivors have talked about anger that he wouldn't be held accountable in his life. I was relieved, I was so relieved because I knew he couldn't hurt anyone.

"And I knew that I would never have come forward publicly if he had still been alive, ever."

De Georgiou spoke at the US Capitol last year (Andrew Harnik/Getty Images)

'I will not be silenced'

Now, De Georgiou says she will not 'be quiet'.

“I'm almost 50 years old, and I know how to be afraid and to do the right thing anyway. I will not be quiet. I will not be silenced. I will not be intimidated. And I am saying that for my daughter, for other people's daughters, for Carolyn [Andriano], for Virginia, for all the others who didn't make it, that we don't hear about. And for myself."

Epstein took his own life in his New York jail cell in August 2019 while awaiting trial for federal sex trafficking charges. Maxwell is currently serving a 20-year sentence after being convicted of sex trafficking and conspiracy.

If you have been affected by any of the issues in this article and wish to speak to someone in confidence, contact The Survivors Trust for free on 08088 010 818, available 10am-12.30pm, 1.30pm-3pm and 6pm-8pm Monday to Thursday, 10am-12.30pm and 1.30pm-3pm on Fridays, 10am-12.30pm on Saturdays and 6pm-8pm on Sundays.