Is Virginia Giuffre unravelling or is she really on her deathbed?
After more than a decade in the spotlight, she was supposedly leading a quiet life with her family in a small beach town in north Perth, Australia. But this week, Virginia Giuffre's story took a shocking twist, when she claimed she had just days to live after being hit by a school bus.
On March 30, the 41-year-old, who accused Prince Andrew of sexual assault and Jeffrey Epstein of sex trafficking, wrote on Instagram that she had been involved in a car accident which had allegedly left her with renal failure.
'This year has been the worst start to a new year,' Giuffre wrote under a photo of herself seemingly covered in bruises. 'I won't bore anyone with the details but I think it important to note that when a school bus driver comes at you driving 110km [per hour]... that no matter what your car is made of it might as well be a tin can.'
'I've gone into kidney renal failure, they've given me four days to live, transferring me to a specialist hospital in urology,' she wrote. 'I'm ready to go, just not until I see my babies one last time, but you know what they say about wishes.... Thank you all for being the wonderful people of the world and for being a great part of my life.'
Yet her critics have doubted the veracity of her claims, after Western Australia Police said they had only one recent record of a 'minor' bus and car collision with 'no reported injuries' in the state, which occurred in Neergabby, 20km north of Perth, on the afternoon of March 24.
'The collision was reported by the bus driver the following day. The car sustained approximately $2,000 [£968] worth of damage,' police said in a statement.
Acting police commissioner Kylie Whitely confirmed during a press conference on April 1 that the incident involved a 71-year-old woman at the wheel of the car and a 41-year-old woman in the passenger seat.
Brad Edwards, a US lawyer who represented Giuffre in her previous legal cases, said it was a 'very bad situation… and we are hoping for better news in the coming days'.
But Prince Andrew's ex-girlfriend, Lady Victoria Hervey, was one of many who took to Instagram to pour scorn on Giuffre's claims. The aristocrat and model posted a series of messages to Instagram, including one stating that Giuffre was 'the Queen of the fake photo' – seeming to allude to the now-infamous photograph of a teenage Giuffre with Andrew and Ghislaine Maxwell.
In another Instagram story, she added: 'How is this diagnosis from a car crash?' A further post continued: 'Generally when you're dying you're not thinking about posting a selfie, you're actually dying'.
Lady Victoria, who dated Prince Andrew in 1999, also wrote the word 'karma' over the selfie supposedly taken by Giuffre in hospital, adding the soundtrack of the 1986 hit The Final Countdown.
Hervey also wrote: 'I don't believe it though, the FBI are on her right now and arrest warrants are coming. She's conveniently dying to evade jail. I think it's time that Robert Giuffre, who has custody of their teenage children, to speak [sic]. I know he knows the truth of the fake photo and all her con jobs.' But she gave no evidence for this claim.
Giuffre's last known address was a $1.9 million (£1m) home in the small Perth community of Ocean Reef with her husband of 22 years, Robert Giuffre.
The California-born Virginia Roberts met Giuffre, a martial arts teacher, in Thailand when she was 19, and married him 10 days later, moving to his home in Australia to start a family. When she delivered the news of her marriage and move to Epstein he reportedly responded, 'have a nice life' and hung up.
The Giuffres have now reportedly split up, and Virginia is living further up the coast with her French bulldog, Juno, who she describes as 'the love of my life'. Robert and Virginia have three children – two sons in their mid to late teens, and a daughter aged 14.
A week before she shared news of her car crash, Giuffre wrote on Instagram: 'My beautiful babies have no clue how much I love them and they're being poisoned with lies. I miss them so very much. I have been through hell and back in my 41 years but this is incredibly hurting me worse than anything else. Hurt me, abuse me but don't take my babies. My heart is shattered and every day that passes my sadness only deepen.'
Is she unravelling or is she really on her deathbed? If it's the latter, it will be the latest tragic development in a life marred by trauma. She spent her childhood in and out of foster care, being trafficked and sexually assaulted on the streets of Florida.
She first came forward about her experience with Epstein in 2011, alleging that she had been recruited by Maxwell in 2000 when she was just 16, while working at Donald Trump's Mar-a-Lago resort, and spent the next few years being abused by Epstein and others while caught up in his sex-trafficking circle.
In 2009, she settled a $500,000 (£387,000) sexual-abuse lawsuit against Epstein, which at the time was confidential, but details of which emerged in 2022. She also sued Maxwell – who is currently serving a 20-year sentence after being convicted of child sex trafficking – for defamation in 2015 and settled in 2017.
In 2021, Giuffre filed a civil claim against Prince Andrew, who she says sexually assaulted her while she was being trafficked by Epstein and his associates. Prince Andrew has denied the allegations and claims never to have met Giuffre, but he too settled his case with her in 2022. The financial terms have not been made public, but legal experts have estimated it was somewhere around £12 million.
In the wake of the scandal, in 2022, the Royal family removed Prince Andrew's military titles and royal patronages, and he stepped down from public life.
Epstein died in a New York jail cell in August 2019, and although the autopsy concluded it was a suicide by hanging, his death fuelled widespread controversy and conspiracy theories.
Maxwell, now 63, failed to apologise to her victims in a recent interview, saying they should take their 'disappointment and upset' out on the US authorities who 'allowed' Epstein to be murdered. She also claimed she had no memory of her 'dear friend' Prince Andrew ever meeting Giuffre.
According to sources, one year after settling her lawsuit with Prince Andrew, Giuffre reportedly signed a multi-million dollar deal with an unknown publisher to write her memoir. She also settled her defamation lawsuit against former Harvard law professor Alan Dershowitz, saying she might have 'made a mistake' when she accused him of sexually assaulting her as a teenager. 'I have long believed that I was trafficked by Jeffrey Epstein to Alan Dershowitz,' Giuffre said in a statement. 'However, I was very young at the time, it was a very stressful and traumatic environment.'
This week, Giuffre's father, Sky Roberts, said: 'She's not doing good. She's depressed because she misses her kids. She's got four days [to live] unless she gets another opinion from another doctor.' He is reportedly estranged from his daughter and says he has not seen her since the car crash, but her brother has.
Her father also wrote under her Instagram post: 'Virginia my daughter, I love you and praying you get the correct treatment to live a long and healthy life. If there is anything in the world, I can do to help you, please let me know. My spirit is with you now and holding your hand.'
In a statement, Giuffre's spokesman, Dini von Mueffling, said: 'Virginia has been in a serious accident and is receiving medical care in the hospital. She greatly appreciates the support and well wishes people are sending.'
The coming days will prove whether Giuffre was correct in her terminal diagnosis. But for Prince Andrew, Giuffre being in the headlines again is yet more embarrassment after he 'let the side down' and shows that – despite many millions of pounds – it's a case that simply won't go away.
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