Quiet As Kept

The family should be the most sacred institution, valued by everyone. However, that’s not always the case. I recently listened to the audiobook Nobody’s Girl: A Memoir of Surviving Abuse and Fighting for Justice, written by Virginia Roberts Giuffre (Giuffre) and co-authored by Amy Wallace. In her memoir, Giuffre details the sexual abuse she suffered from her father and family friends. It was the trauma from these events that later led her into the hands of Jeffrey Epstein (Epstein), a multimillionaire known for providing estate services to billionaire clients. Epstein, who maintained close ties with Elon Musk, Bill Gates, Bill Clinton, and many other influential people, was also a convicted sex offender who reportedly committed suicide while in prison. 

I finished listening to the entire book quickly because I was captivated by her story and the involvement of numerous wealthy and powerful individuals. At times, I had to pause because I couldn’t imagine how a father could do that to his daughter. Still, I realized we live in a world full of deviance and deviant people, and we don’t always see what happens behind closed doors. 

Giuffre was born and raised in California before moving to Florida at age four. She claimed that a family friend molested her and that she was later sexually abused by her father, starting at age seven. My heart sank when I heard this because she was just a child. Rage then took over, but I couldn’t do anything. Giuffre described how she became a runaway and lived in foster homes. Her story resembled that of many children whose family members have abused them. She soon started getting involved with unscrupulous men, one of whom eventually trafficked her sexually through his modeling agency, which served as a front for an international sex trafficking ring. The perpetrator was later arrested by the FBI and pleaded guilty to charges of smuggling for prostitution and interstate travel for prostitution.

As the story unfolded, Giuffre reunited with her father, who helped her get a job at the prestigious Mar-a-Lago Club, owned by Donald Trump, where he worked. My mind sounded alarms because of Trump's controversial history with young women and numerous lawsuits he settled out of court over sexual harassment. Although Giuffre didn’t directly accuse Trump of any misdeeds, it didn’t eliminate my suspicion that he was probably involved, but she chose not to name him. While working at the club, Giuffre met Ghislaine Maxwell, a close friend of Epstein.  

Maxwell was born to a French mother, a scholar, and a Czechoslovakian-born British media mogul father. Later in life, Maxwell became a socialite and pursued several business ventures. Her father bought the New York Daily News and had her represent his interests while he was out of the country on business. In November 1990, Maxwell flew to New York to deliver an envelope on behalf of her father, which was later determined to be part of a plot to steal money from influential people. In the following days, her father’s body was found floating in the sea near his yacht. After his death, it was revealed that her father had defrauded a pension asset company.

During their initial meeting, Maxwell asked Giuffre if she was interested in becoming a masseuse. Maxwell later showed her how to give massages and introduced her to Epstein. They then groomed her to be his traveling masseuse, which led to her having intercourse with both of them. 

As the crime continued, Maxwell persuaded Giuffre to recruit other underage girls into their circle with the promise of payment, also to massage Epstein. Epstein’s kinky desires led me to believe he had a sex addiction and needed many women to satisfy him, to my disappointment; they had to be underage teenagers. Trying to lure young girls into a predator's trap requires the skill and cunning of a sophisticated person, and this is where Maxwell excelled. 

Giuffre details that she was expected to perform sexual favors for numerous men they selected. The names of these men are controversial because of their status, and if exposed, could lead to multiple scandals and litigation to silence the accuser. There were many accusations against the men involved, but Giuffre went on record, alleging that Prince Andrew, the brother of King Charles of England, was involved. Prince Andrew was a personal friend of Epstein and had traveled to his home on numerous occasions, according to news reports. She later filed a civil lawsuit against Prince Andrew, which they settled out of court for an undisclosed amount in February 2022. Since Prince Andrew was a representative of the United Kingdom, taxpayers will likely be footing the bill. In the years that followed, Prince Andrew was stripped of his titles and banished from his royal residence. 

The pressure and fame surrounding her story were overwhelming for Giuffre, even though she managed to expose a powerful man who abused her at age seventeen. After multiple suicide attempts throughout her life, she finally achieved her goal on April 25, 2025. May she rest in peace.

The revolving news cycles didn’t catch my interest, so I ignored the Epstein story until it became part of the conversation about Trump and his associates, who promised to expose a secret underworld if Trump was re-elected. Many women had reported Epstein to local police and the FBI, but nothing significant came of it. I didn’t realize how much Epstein and Maxwell’s victims had endured. Both were eventually arrested, convicted, and sentenced to long prison terms, but Epstein’s time in prison ended quickly due to a highly suspicious supposed suicide. Meanwhile, Maxwell is currently being held in a minimum-security federal facility in Texas.

Giuffre’s story resonated with me because of a social deviance course I’ve taught for the past decade. One of the course chapters covers the topics of rape and molestation. While these topics can be triggering for some, they have also sparked conversations among many students who have experienced trauma from sexual violence in their lives. Initially, I thought opening up old wounds might be too overwhelming for the victims, but they have shared that they felt relieved to finally discuss what had happened. I also shared my own story of being molested at age eleven by someone I thought was a woman, but who turned out to be a man dressed as a woman. I assured my students that we are not responsible for what the predators did to us. 

Giuffre’s story will remain a fixation for society until the personal files of Epstein are released as promised by Trump and his sycophants. Until then, many victims will still have to suffer until all of the predators are exposed and punished accordingly.