'Toll of abuse is so heavy that it became unbearable for Virginia to handle its weight,' family tells NBC News
Virginia Giuffre, who became a leading voice against sexual trafficking after surviving abuse at the hands of Jeffrey Epstein, died by suicide at the age of 41, her family confirmed Friday.
Giuffre died at her farm in Neergabby in Western Australia, according to a family statement provided to NBC News.
"It is with utterly broken hearts that we announce that Virginia passed away last night," it said. "She lost her life to suicide, after being a lifelong victim of sexual abuse and sex trafficking.”
The family described Giuffre as "a fierce warrior in the fight against sexual abuse and sex trafficking" who "was the light that lifted so many survivors."
Giuffre was among the earliest accusers to publicly challenge Epstein and his associates, including British financier Ghislaine Maxwell and Britain's Prince Andrew. Her 2021 lawsuit against Prince Andrew, who denied allegations, was settled in 2022 for an undisclosed amount.
"In the end, the toll of abuse is so heavy that it became unbearable for Virginia to handle its weight," added the family statement.
Epstein, a wealthy financier facing federal sex trafficking charges, died by suicide in a New York City jail in 2019.
Giuffre had been trafficked by Epstein and Maxwell from approximately 1999 to 2002, and her testimony helped lead later to Maxwell's conviction.
The Epstein files that President Donald Trump pledged to release were partially declassified and made public under the direction of US Attorney General Pam Bondi in early 2025. Many of the documents, however, had been previously leaked or were already publicly known, and the initial releases did not contain major new revelations.
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