Virginia
Giuffre haunted by ‘hungry ghosts’ of Epstein and Maxwell, memoir says
Virginia Giuffre was still haunted by the “hungry ghosts” of convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell decades after she escaped their “house of shame”, her posthumous memoir reveals.
Warning: This story contains details of child sexual abuse that readers may find distressing.
Giuffre, who died by suicide in April at her property in Neergabby, about 80 kilometres north of Perth, was a prominent accuser of Epstein.
She had long alleged she was trafficked for sex to Prince Andrew by Epstein when she was a teenager.
Her memoir, Nobody’s Girl: A Memoir of Surviving Abuse and Fighting for Justice is a harrowing account of a woman familiar with “monsters”, who wanted to be portrayed authentically.
In the 367-page book, Giuffre tells the story of her abuse, which allegedly began at the hands of her father and a family friend when she was young.
Her father, Sky William Roberts, denied the allegations.
Deemed “out of control” by her mother, who Giuffre alleged became “cold and remote” after the abuse by her father began, she was sent, as a teen, to a “tough-love treatment centre” until she ran away.
That led her to an “old man with a limousine” who claimed to own a modelling agency, groomed her with gifts and eventually trafficked her to a friend of his.
But it was her experiences with Epstein and Maxwell, “a molester with posh manners and an aristocratic pedigree” that continued to haunt her in vivid flashbacks.
She wrote that she still “feared them both”.
“Still I feel haunted by their hungry ghosts,” Giuffre wrote.
Excerpts of the book published by UK media last week included Giuffre’s allegations about being trafficked to Prince Andrew, who, she wrote was “entitled, as if he believed having sex with me was his birthright”.
In the memoir Giuffre claimed that just before she met Prince Andrew in March 2001, when she was 17 years old, she was told by Maxwell in a singsongy voice that “just like Cinderella, I was going to meet a handsome prince!”
Upon meeting the royal, Giuffre recalled Maxwell telling him to guess her age.
The prince, who was then 41, “guessed correctly” that she was 17, Giuffre said.
“My daughters are just a little younger than you,” she remembered him saying.
She also detailed three separate occasions when she had sex with the prince, who she called Andy, in meetings that have been reported in previous witness statements and accounts.
The royal has previously denied Guiffre’s accusations that he forced her to have sex more than two decades ago.
A settlement was reached in February 2022 in a civil case brought by Giuffre against Prince Andrew.
Buckingham Palace has been contacted for comment.
On Friday, local time, Prince Andrew announced he had given up his royal titles and membership of the Order of the Garter after concluding that the “continued accusations about me distract from the work of His Majesty and the Royal Family”.
“I vigorously deny the accusations against me,” he added.
Amy Wallace, who ghostwrote the memoir, said that Giuffre would be pleased that Prince Andrew could no longer use titles and honours.
“I know that she would view it as a victory, that he was forced by whatever means to voluntarily give them up,” she told the BBC.
“And it’s also just a step in the right direction — you know, Virginia wanted all the men who she’d been trafficked to against her will to be held to account.
“And this is just one of the men, but he is being forced to, even though he continues to deny it.
“His life is being eroded because of his past behaviour.”
On the eve of the publication of the memoir, the British government faced calls to formally remove Prince Andrew’s titles.
It has so far resisted them, even as the book brings fresh scrutiny to the prince.
Worst thing Maxwell and Epstein did was ‘psychological’
The memoir goes into some detail about Giuffre’s early childhood and teen years before she recalls being spotted by Maxwell, whose accent reminded her of Mary Poppins, while reading a book at Mar-a-Lago one morning.
She claimed Maxwell invited her over to the “Pink House” for an interview, an offer she accepted in the belief it would lead to big things.
She was then ushered into a room asked to give a naked Epstein a massage.
Giuffre said she did so under the instruction of Maxwell, who took her clothes off and undressed Giuffre before they sexually abused her.
“Is sex all anyone will ever want from me?” Giuffre remembered thinking.
It was the beginning of an ordeal she claimed saw her suffer abuse by a web of rich and powerful people, many of whom were believed to be Epstein associates.
“In my years with them, they lent me out to scores of wealthy, powerful people,” Giuffre wrote.
“I was habitually used and humiliated and, in some instances, choked, beaten, and bloodied.
“I believed that I might die a sex slave.“
Giuffre claimed that the worst thing Epstein and Maxwell did to her “weren’t physical, but psychological”.
“From the start, they manipulated me into participating in behaviours that ate away at me, eroding my ability to comprehend reality and preventing me from defending myself,” she wrote.
In one account Giuffre recalls Epstein’s callous reaction to how terrorised she felt after being “brutalised” by a “former minister,” who choked her and left her bleeding.
“Epstein cared only about Epstein,” she wrote.
Giuffre recalls alleged ‘orgy’ with Prince Andrew
In the memoir, which is interspersed with some lighter recollections of her life with her children, Giuffre recalled the moments leading up to the infamous photo of her with Prince Andrew and Maxwell.
She said she had the thought that her mother would never forgive her if she did not pose for a picture with someone so famous.
“I remember the prince putting his arm around my waist as Maxwell grinned beside me. Epstein snapped the photo,” Giuffre wrote.
That night she attended London’s Tramp nightclub with Epstein, Maxwell and the royal, who invited her to dance and “sweated profusely”.
“When we get home, you are to do for him what you do for Jeffrey,” Giuffre wrote that Maxwell told her in the car on the way to her place.
Back at the house, Maxwell and Epstein went upstairs, “signalling it was time that I take care of the prince”.
Giuffre wrote the pair had sex.
“He was friendly enough, but still entitled — as if he believed having sex with me was his birthright,” she wrote.
The next morning, Maxwell told her: “You did well. The prince had fun.”
Giuffre claimed she had sex with Andrew on two other occasions — at the townhouse in New York and on Epstein’s island in an “orgy” with “approximately eight other young girls”.
“The other girls all appeared to be under the age of 18 and didn’t really speak English,” she wrote.
“Epstein laughed about how they couldn’t really communicate, saying they are the easiest girls to get along with.“
Years later, Giuffre recalled stumbling upon a photo of Epstein walking in New York’s Central Park with Prince Andrew.
The picture, taken by former British tabloid News of the World, was published in February 2011.
Giuffre wrote that by then “everyone knew that Epstein, though he’d gotten off with a light sentence, was a convicted sex offender”.
In 2008 Epstein was convicted for soliciting prostitution from a person under the age of 18.
“I was of course revolted to see two of my abusers together, out for a stroll,” Giuffre wrote.
“But mostly I was amazed that a member of the Royal Family would be stupid enough to appear in public with Epstein.“
She also touched on the confidential settlement she reached with Prince Andrew in 2022, after she had filed a lawsuit against him in New York State.
She had pushed ahead with it in the hope he gave “a general acknowledgement of what I’d been through”.
She claimed that after “casting doubt on my credibility for so long”, Prince Andrew’s team “had even gone so far as to try to hire internet trolls to hassle me”.
“The Duke of York owed me a meaningful apology as well,” she wrote.
Allegations of abuse at home
In the memoir, there are allegations that Giuffre was sexually abused by her father.
Giuffre grew up in Florida after she was born in 1983 and wrote that she had a modest early childhood with her mother and father, until it took a turn.
Giuffre died in April at her property in Neergabby. (Reuters: Shannon Stapleton)
“When I began working with a collaborator on this book, I had never said publicly that my father molested me and then gave me to another man to molest,” she wrote.
Giuffre alleged the abuse began when her father, who she said called her his “favourite”, began getting her ready for bed.
She accused him of touching her inappropriately and claimed he told her this was his way of giving her “extra love”.
In an effort to stop the abuse from happening, Giuffre wrote that she told her father she could bathe herself and began hiding under the bed to avoid his attention.
The abuse got worse when she was introduced to “Forrest”, a friend of her father’s, who she said also assaulted her.
Mr Roberts denied the allegations in a note sent to the book’s ghostwriter.
“Just to straighten this out, I never abused my daughter and didn’t know that Forrest did that either,” he said, according to the book.
“If I had known about that, I would have been very angry and taken care of the situation.”
Before she died, Giuffre told Wallace it was her “heartfelt wish” that the memoir be released “regardless” of her circumstances.
“Two things made Virginia’s memoir different,” Wallace notes in the book.
“First, the stories she needed to share were devastating beyond measure for her to tell.
“Second, several of the characters in these stories were among the wealthiest and most powerful in the world.“
After Guiffre’s death earlier this year, Sigrid McCawley, a lawyer for dozens of Epstein abuse survivors, described her as “an incredible champion for other victims”.
Those that knew Guiffre remembered her as “deeply loving, wise, and funny”.
Virginia
Virginia’s special election redistricting battle is next week and has national impacts
Virginians are heading to the polls to vote “yes” or “no” on a ballot initiative in a high-stakes special election that could upend this year’s midterm elections.
Voters on Tuesday will decide if they want to move forward with Democrats’ redistricting plan which would significantly change the state’s congressional map, giving Democrats a 10-1 advantage instead of the current 6-5 Democratic to Republican split.
Virginia is one of many states that took a look at their congressional maps this year after President Donald Trump encouraged Republican-led states to redraw their maps ahead of the 2026 midterms.
Both parties in Virginia are pushing get out the vote efforts as early voting lags behind previous years and a huge amount of cash is flowing into the mid-decade redistricting effort.
Here’s what to know:
Democrats try to eliminate several GOP seats
In February, Virginia Democrats finalized an agreement over how to redraw the state’s congressional map. It would lead to eight safely Democratic districts, two districts that lean Democratic and one safe Republican district.
As it currently stands, Virginia has six Democrats and five Republicans in the House.
The amendment passed by Democrats in February would temporarily bypass the state’s typical redistricting process. If voters approve the amendment through the referendum on April 21, Democrats would be able to move forward with their map.
The amendment would put in place a temporary process. After the 2030 census, the state’s standard redistricting process would resume with maps to be decided by a bipartisan commission.
The lead-up to the election has seen an influx of spending, and The Washington Post noted that due to state election records, 95% of the total $93 million raised as of Monday came from nonprofit groups that are not required to disclose their donors.
The leading group, Virginians for Fair Elections, reported raising $64 million in favor of the referendum. About $40 million of that came from House Majority Forward, which is led by House Minority Leader Rep. Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., the Post reported using data from tracking firm AdImpact. The Fairness Project added $11.7 million to the effort. It’s backed by new Gov. Abigail Spanberger.
Virginians for Fair Elections secured a television advertisement for voting “yes” on the ballot initiative featuring former President Barack Obama. He said voting the measure through was the “responsible” thing to do.
The group that wants Virginians to vote “no” on the measure is made up of several smaller groups, including Virginians for Fair Maps. That group took in $22 million and another $7 million was raised by Justice for Democracy PAC, an anti-redistricting group, Cardinal News, a southern Virginia outlet, reported.
According to Cardinal News, the $7 million donation to the PAC was given by a nonprofit, which didn’t have to disclose its donors. However, that same nonprofit was used by billionaire Peter Thiel in support of Vice President JD Vance’s 2022 Senate campaign.
Even if Virginians pass the measure, the process putting in place the new map is still under judicial review, with the state Supreme Court hearing a challenge later this month.
The Deseret News has reached out to both Virginians for Fair Maps and the Fairness Project for comment.
How did we get here?
Trump kick-started the redistricting battle last year with the Texas Republican congressional delegation and told them the state should seek five new seats that the Republican Party could win through redistricting.
It was a sign that Trump was looking to not have a repeat of his first presidency, when Democrats flipped the House two years into his term.
In response, California Gov. Gavin Newsom declared “game on” and instructed the California state Legislature to redraw the state’s maps to find five additional seats for the Democrats.
Californians overwhelmingly passed Proposition 50 in a special election last year.
Missouri followed, calling a special session to redraw its state map, looking to gain one GOP seat. North Carolina was next, announcing new plans for a redistricting session last October.
Several other states have joined the nationwide fight, wotj varying outcomes, including Ohio, New York, Maryland, Florida, Alabama, Louisiana, Illinois, Indiana, Nebraska, Colorado and Kansas.
What does it mean?
Historically, the party that controls the White House almost always loses ground with voters in the midterm elections. In the last 20 out of 22 midterms dating back to 1938, the president’s party has lost ground in the House; the only exceptions were due to unusual circumstances like the 9/11 terror attacks and former President Bill Clinton’s impeachment.
Upon returning to the White House, Trump has had the benefit of a slim Republican majority in both the House and Senate. In the House, there are currently 217 Republicans, 213 Democrats, one independent that caucuses with the GOP and four vacancies.
While the GOP looks to gain about 15 new seats through redistricting, Democrats may come out on top. According to RealClearPolitics’ polling averages for generic 2026 congressional voting, Democrats have a 5.6 percentage point advantage, up 2.9 percentage points from last October.
It’s a trend that may change over the next several months, particularly as the Trump administration aims to make its case with voters that the Iran war was necessary and consumers see gas prices stabilize.
However, it is something that has Republicans concerned. They’ve shown enough concern that Democrats could flip the House and even the Senate — where the GOP has a 53-45 majority — that they are preparing for a Supreme Court justice retirement in the coming months. They know that if Democrats control the upper chamber and a retirement happens, there’s no way one of Trump’s appointees would be voted through.
Virginia
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Virginia
Skydiver rescued after crashing into scoreboard during Virginia Tech football scrimmage
A skydiver crashed into the Lane Stadium scoreboard before Virginia Tech’s spring football game Saturday.
Virginia Tech officials said on X that the skydiver “was safely secured and is currently stable” following rescue efforts. The incident caused a delay in the start of the spring game.
“Thankful for game days with Hokie Nation and for the Blacksburg and Virginia Tech first responders whose quick actions safely returned today’s parachuter to the ground without injury,” the university said.
The name of the skydiver wasn’t released.
“Our primary focus remains on their well-being,” Virginia Tech officials said in a statement. “We extend our sincere appreciation to the first responders, event staff, and medical personnel for their swift, coordinated and professional response.”
Video footage showed the skydiver’s parachute landing between the “C” and the “H” on the Virginia Tech lettering on top of the scoreboard before first responders rescued him.
CBS News has reached out to the Blacksburg Fire Department for details on the incident.
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