Virginia Roberts Giuffre, with a photo of herself as a teen. Photo:
Emily Michot/Miami Herald/Tribune News Service via Getty
Virginia Giuffre’s death by suicide shocked the world.
It also left many unanswered questions.
Her family and her longtime representative would not discuss details of Giuffre’s death at age 41 with PEOPLE. “We are still processing everything,” her sister-in-law, Amanda Roberts, told PEOPLE in an exclusive interview on April 26.
Giuffre was grappling with a host of issues when she was found dead on the farm where she lived outside of Perth, Australia, on Thursday, April 24. One that weighed on her the most was a restraining order her husband had taken out against her in February that prevented her from seeing her children ages 19, 16 and 15, until June. He claimed she violated the order, which she denied.
“It’s the worst pain in the world to not have access to your children,” Giuffre’s brother, Sky Roberts, previously told PEOPLE in an exclusive interview on April 3. “Can you imagine the pain? I will tell you, all the physical (pain) will never amount to the pain of being separated from your children in that way.”
Before she died, Giuffre had been allegedly physically abused by her husband of 22 years, Robert Giuffre, the father of her three children, from whom she separated in 2023, Sky and Amanda said.
Virginia Roberts Instagram post. Virginia Roberts/Instagram
She also allegedly endured years of sexual abuse at the hands of convicted sex offenders Jeffrey Epstein and his associate, Ghislaine Maxwell. Giuffre claims that Epstein trafficked her to rich and powerful men, including Prince Andrew, starting when she was just 16. (Andrew has denied the allegations, and Epstein denied the allegations before his death by suicide in 2019.)
Giuffre’s past was traumatic, but Sky told PEOPLE, “Nothing compares to a mother being separated from her child.”
In February, Robert filed a family restraining order against his wife, which gave him primary custody of their children and prohibited her from contacting them, Sky said.
During a trip to celebrate one of the children’s birthdays in January, Robert allegedly beat Giuffre so severely she was left with a cracked sternum and perforated eye, among other injuries, Sky said. She was transported to the hospital for her injuries, her spokeswoman said.
Giuffre reported a Jan. 9, 2025, alleged assault in Dunsborough, Western Australia, to police, who did not charge Robert with any crime, her spokeswoman told PEOPLE. Giuffre’s attorney and PEOPLE were unable to obtain the incident report.
To the family’s shock, they say, Robert quickly filed a family violence restraining order against Giuffre, alleging that she had become violent with him.
“He just put his in place first,” Sky says. “He beat her to the punch. And so, now, she’s on the defense.”
Not being able to contact her children was excruciating for Giuffre because she loved them so much, Amanda and Sky both said.
“At the end of the day, her kids are the most important thing in her life,” Sky told PEOPLE. “She loves those babies.”
On Feb. 2, Giuffre was accused of breaching the restraining order by texting Robert, 7 News was the first to report.
In an exclusive statement to PEOPLE in early April, Giuffre spoke about the alleged abuse, saying, “I was able to fight back against Ghislaine Maxwell and Jeffrey Epstein who abused and trafficked me. But I was unable to escape the domestic violence in my marriage until recently. After my husband’s latest physical assault, I can no longer stay silent.”
She ended the statement by saying, “Again, I thank everyone for their support. I have faith that justice will prevail.”
Robert’s attorney told PEOPLE in an email, “There is no comment.”
Turbulent Final Weeks
Giuffre became a public figure when she came forward in 2010 as an alleged victim of Epstein, the late financier who died by suicide in his prison cell at age 66 in 2019, and Maxwell, 63, who is currently serving a prison sentence for child sex trafficking in connection with Epstein.
In 2021, Giuffre sued Prince Andrew in New York. The two reached an out-of-court settlement in February 2022 of an undisclosed amount.
Giuffre, who said she had been sexually abused by a family friend when she was 7, met Robert in 2002 in Thailand, while she was training to become a masseuse for Epstein. She escaped from Epstein, she said, when she returned to Australia with Robert.
Giuffre was back in the news on March 30 when she said on Instagram that she was in the hospital and near death and suffering from kidney failure after the car in which she was riding on March 24 was struck by a school bus going more than 49 mph.
Sky and Amanda said they don’t know whether Giuffre’s medical issues were caused by the crash or complications from a recent alleged beating she suffered at the hands of her husband, or a combination of the two.
Now they are left to mourn her loss. “She was one of the most beautiful souls you would ever have the chance to meet,” Amanda told PEOPLE. “But I think sometimes, that load and that weight becomes too much to carry.”
If you or someone you know is considering suicide, please contact the 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline by dialing 988, text “STRENGTH” to the Crisis Text Line at 741741 or go to 988lifeline.org.
If you or someone you know has been sexually assaulted, please contact the National Sexual Assault Hotline at 1-800-656-HOPE (4673) or go to rainn.org.
If you are experiencing domestic violence, call the National Domestic Violence Hotline at 1-800-799-7233, or go to thehotline.org. All calls are toll-free and confidential. The hotline is available 24/7 in more than 170 languages.
