From a Google Image Search – CBS

Kudos to Virginia Giuffre for writing about this very tough subject; a subject you are encouraged to keep hidden. A woman who is sexually abused, beginning at a very young age (or any age) often believes that she is responsible for what men did to her, that she somehow caused these things to happen. She bears twin burdens of both grief and shame. Often abused girls and women are threatened with repercussions if they reveal these “secrets.” Born Virginia Roberts, Giuffre writes about sexual abuse by her father and a friend of her father; abuse ignored by her mother. She becomes Nobody’s Girl, which is the title of her memoir and exposé of the sexual trafficking of Jeffrey Epstein and his partner-in-crime, Ghislaine Maxwell.

Roberts was working in the spa at Mar-a-Lago when she was recruited by Epstein and Maxwell. What began as a massage session quickly turned into what is commonly known as “a happy ending.” Happy perhaps, but not for all participants. People ask Giuffre why she kept coming back to the pink house in Palm Beach at 358 El Brillo Way. As she describes it, she came back because she was experiencing some kind of Stockholm syndrome, where the consequences of leaving loomed in her mind as more fearful than the consequences of staying. Epstein and Maxwell were criminals, involved in, apparently, more than one criminal activity so they used threats to keep their victims from revealing their secrets. If you were a good girl, you were praised and treated well. If noncompliant, you were chastised and ostracized. 

Epstein was worth millions, earned for dubious services to some very famous people, most from the world of politics. He had a compound in New Mexico, an expensive property in Manhattan (done up in black and red), and the island visited by men for unrevealed reasons, in most cases. Virginia would travel with the pair to parties in these places and eventually she would meet some of the famous men and be ordered to have sex with them. She had a firm belief that if she tried to leave, she would not be allowed to, considering the intimate knowledge she had of famous men (and a few women) who liked sex with young women (women who were often girls). Jeffrey would often tell his visitors that marriage with very young women was an accepted custom in many places around the world.

Eventually Virginia reminded Jeffrey and Ghislaine that they promised to help her get genuine credentials as a masseuse. They sent her to a school in Thailand to study. Virginia might have already planned to never return to America, but she met and fell in love with Robbie Giuffre. They married in a temple, and he took her to his home in Australia. For a while Virginia experienced some calm moments until her new address was discovered by Jeffrey and Ghislaine. By this time the pair were being tried in US courts for sex trafficking and other victims were being asked to testify. Guiffre felt that she had to tell what she knew. She doesn’t name all the famous men who abused her except for the former prince, Andrew and a famous scientist. She recognized faces but did not know their names until the names were later attached to the pictures.

Some people believe Virginia’s (Jenna’s) story. Some place blame on her for her involvement in the situation. Women who have been abused do not. They understand the skills of those who dominate and the fear they engender in their victims. When Giuffre finishes her book, she is still alive. Afterward she supposedly committed suicide. We know that Jenna attempted suicide because she writes about it, but she later vows in print that she will never do that again. She says that if there is a suicide, then we would know that she had been murdered. She is survived by her mother, her father, her husband, and their three children. She is also survived by Ghislaine Maxwell.

Jeffrey Epstein’s reach has shocked us all. He knew so many of the powerful people of our time. He intimated that he had videos of the famous men and the young girls he trafficked (usually from overseas) and that he could destroy their lives if he pleased. That could certainly explain how he came to be worth millions. Although extortion may explain some of his wealth, the favors he did in secret for people in power also were well paid. Was it the zeitgeist of the times to be invited to his parties and partake of forbidden pleasures. The truth is unraveling, but we may never know everything. It was very brave of Virgina Roberts Giuffre to write this book, and it did take a toll on her health, her mental state, and her family.