I’m disgusted with the Virginia Giuffre conspiracy theories

Jeffrey Epstein Survivors battle exploitation of Giuffre and honor her

Welcome back to The Red Letter.

My dear friend Virginia Giuffre died by suicide a little more than a week ago and it has been disgraceful to see her memory overshadowed by conspiracy theories. Giuffre was a tireless advocate for women and children who spent decades speaking out about Jeffrey Epstein’s massive underage sex trafficking ring. The shameful narrative that she was offed by one of Epstein’s powerful friends fails to recognize the emotional pain she suffered from a lifetime sexual abuse, as well as the rejection she faced from the most powerful people in the world.

In the above video, I play the first 30 seconds from Broken: Jeffrey Epstein, an investigative podcast series that I worked on with Giuffre, so that you can hear in her voice what it was like for her to constantly hear that the trauma she experienced didn’t happen. For so many years, she begged people to listen to her. She tried to convince people who looked away while she was being abused to finally stand with her and be witnesses to the sex trafficking operation at Jeffrey Epstein’s many properties.

Can you imagine what it was like having photographic evidence with Prince Andrew, only to hear him categorically deny that they ever met? It was incredibly depressing for me to see it up close, but she lived it day in and day out because she was a warrior and believed it was bigger than her—it was about justice for her survivor sisters and making sure it never happened again.

She was one of the bravest people I have ever met.

In so many ways, these conspiracies—propagated by everyone from Donald Trump Jr. to Laura Loomer to her own lawyer and her estranged father Sky Roberts—that she was killed by one of Epstein’s powerful friends rather than by suicide, desecrate her life’s mission to stand up for the vulnerable. Shame on you, Piers Morgan, for platforming her father whom she hasn’t spoken to in years! Just last month Roberts had to comment on Giuffre’s Instagram post because they didn’t have a relationship. He had no idea how much his daughter suffered.

It's troubling that Giuffre’s death has been overtaken by the who done it rather than a conversation about how victims of sexual abuse who are brave enough to tell their stories are re-traumatized by gaslighting and the reentry of their abusers into society. Why can’t people understand that sexual abuse can lead to a lifetime of mental illness, substance abuse, or domestic abuse? So many of these women have been scarred for life. Giuffre and I talked about this frequently, and that’s why she fought to protect children. I could tell that she was still struggling the last time I spoke to her in February, but she was still hopeful.

On this show, I speak to two of Giuffre’s survivor sisters, Marijke Chartouni and Maria Farmer, about Giuffre’s spirit, her essence – that hope. Giuffre used to call Chartouni her “secret weapon” because she is an excellent investigator and helped her put pieces together of her own story. The three of us, who worked on Broken together, reflect on how Giuffre would have wanted to be remembered. She was a brilliant woman, a wonderful mother, and a great friend.

To this day, working with Giuffre remains the most important journalism of my career, and I couldn’t have done it without her.

May you rest in peace, Virginia. You will never be forgotten.

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