Warning: This article contains discussion of suicide and sexual abuse which some readers may find distressing.
Following the release of a posthumous memoir from sex-trafficking survivor Virginia Giuffre, further disturbing revelations have come to light about convicted paedophile Jeffrey Epstein.
Giuffre tragically died by suicide at the age of 41 back in April. Her memoir, Nobody's Girl: A Memoir of Surviving Abuse and Fighting for Justice, documents the horrifying treatment she endured from Epstein - who faced federal sex trafficking charges in 2019 before dying in jail awaiting trial - and his accomplices and friends, which include Ghislaine Maxwell and allegedly Prince Andrew.
"In the event of my passing, I would like to ensure that NOBODY’S GIRL is still released," Giuffre said in an email sent to American publishing house Alfred A Knopf. "I believe it has the potential to impact many lives and foster necessary discussions about these grave injustices."
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The publisher has described Nobody’s Girl as the activist’s 'story told in full and in her own words' - a 'riveting and powerful story of an ordinary girl who would grow up to confront extraordinary adversity'.
In the 400-page memoir, Giuffre detailed the ins and outs of Epstein's 'tuck-in ritual' in which she was expected to 'massage his feet and maybe then his scalp', adding: "Only after he fell asleep was I permitted to pull the covers up to his chin and quietly exit his room.
"I am the only one I know of who was asked to do this for him, and at the time he told me that signified that I was 'Number One' among the many girls and servants who attended to him.
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"That designation gave me a proud feeling. Epstein intentionally fostered rivalries between the girls who serviced him, so to be held in his esteem seemed like a prize.
"Nevertheless, I found the tuck-in ritual, which could take more than an hour, increasingly tedious. Each night I'd emerge exhausted."
Giuffre went on to share that these 'bedtime rituals' she had been performing for Epstein had 'unlocked something in him'.
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"Suddenly, he was confiding in me. One day we were in the massage room in Palm Beach when he showed me a hidden doorway next to some paintings of naked people stretching. I'd been in that room dozens of times by then but had never noticed a door there," she recalled.
"Opening it, Epstein revealed what can only be described as a trophy closet. On the walls, from floor to ceiling, he'd tacked up hundreds of photos of young girls.
"All of the girls were naked, many of them quite obviously underage, and the images were raunchy, not demure. A stack of shoeboxes in the corner held the overflow. He had so many photos that he'd run out of display space.
"I turned to him, speechless. He didn't speak either, but the smug look on his face said, 'Look at my conquests. Look at how powerful I am.'"
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Giuffre added that it was around this time that Maxwell was also 'seemingly beginning to trust [her]'.
"But that wasn't good news, because it meant I was assigned a new job: recruiting girls for Epstein," she shared, recounting that the first time this happened was in the Caribbean.
She wrote that Epstein, Maxwell and Sarah Kellen - who was Epstein's assistant and who has been described as Maxwell's 'lieutenant' or second in command - had been ferried over to Saint Thomas for dinner one night.
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Kellen has never been charged in relation to Epstein's crimes. She has described herself as a victim of Epstein and Maxwell who was 'raped and abused weekly' and denies any wrongdoing.
The four of them were 'strolling around afterward' when Epstein said to Giuffre and Kellen: "Why don't you two hit the nightclub here and see if there's anyone interesting to bring back for the evening?"
"Maxwell nodded her assent," Giuffre remembered. "I'd already been told his criteria: recruits were preferably white, with wholesome, 'girl next door' looks that made them appear between twelve and seventeen years old.
"No piercings, no tattoos, and definitely no call girls. But his key requirement, other than looks, was vulnerability. Recruits had to be enough 'on the edge', as Epstein and Maxwell put it, that they would submit to sex in exchange for money."
Giuffre shared that it was this particular night that a haunting realisation dawned on her.
"On this night, it hit me: I was being trained yet again," she continued. "For hours, I tagged along with Kellen as she chatted up girls, floating from one stranger to another with ease, flirting.
"While we didn't find anyone suitable to take back to the island that night, I now knew the script that I would soon be using myself with shameful regularity, 'I work for a billionaire who has a taste for beautiful young girls. He has contacts in the acting, modelling, and art worlds, and he'd love to help you make your dreams come true. Come meet him!'"
Giuffre rounded off the segment with the extremely unsettling description of how the 'pyramid-like recruitment scheme' of sex-trafficking worked.
"In New York City, they reserved afternoons for hunting. At 3pm, when the high schools let out, they'd be on the street, looking for pretty girls to approach," she outlined.
"Maxwell, particularly, was amazing at sussing out what a particular girl might want or need, and she tailored her pitch for maximum appeal. After a girl visited Epstein for the first time, she'd be told she could make double the money if she brought a friend along next time.
"The incentive to lure another girl into the web was twofold: not only would the procurer make $400 (instead of the $200 she'd been paid the first time), but she'd usually avoid having to service Epstein herself, since the new girl would satisfy him."
Nobody's Girl: A Memoir of Surviving Abuse and Fighting for Justice is available in bookstores now.
If you’ve been affected by any of these issues and want to speak to someone in confidence regarding the welfare of a child, contact the NSPCC on 0808 800 5000, 10am-8pm Monday to Friday. If you are a child seeking advice and support, call Childline for free on 0800 1111, 24/7.
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.
Topics: Jeffrey Epstein, US News, Virginia Giuffre, Crime, Books, Prince Andrew
Rhiannon Ingle