This article discusses suicide. If you or someone you know is experiencing thoughts of suicide, please reach out to the Suicide & Crisis Lifeline at 988 or 1-800-273-TALK (8255).
Jeffrey Epstein accuser Virginia Giuffre died by suicide over the weekend, making her the third person allegedly abused by the billionaire to die.
At 41 years old, Giuffre passed away in Neergabby, Australia, where she resided. Epstein tragically took his own life in 2019 while in a New York City jail cell following federal charges of sex trafficking.
“With heavy hearts, we share the news of Virginia’s recent passing on her farm in Western Australia. She died by suicide, having endured a lifetime of sexual abuse and exploitation,” shared Giuffre’s family with Fox News. “Virginia was a brave advocate in the battle against sexual misconduct and trafficking. She was a beacon of hope for countless survivors. Despite the hardships she encountered, her light continued to shine brightly. She will be deeply missed.”
Jeffrey Epstein mugshot from 2019 after federal authorities filed trafficking charges against him. (Kypros/Getty Images)
The West Palm Beach Police Department said at the time that the overdose was accidental.
Leigh Skye Patrick
Leigh Skye Patrick died at the age of 29 after a drug overdose in West Palm Beach, Florida in 2017.
Authorities said that Patrick was found inside a hotel room in West Palm Beach, adding that the overdose was accidental.
Kathryn Smerling, a psychologist and therapist in New York City, told Fox News Digital that the type of abuse Epstein’s victims had to suffer was “very difficult to traumatically process.”
“It’s post-traumatic stress … and you’re being objectified. It’s not like there is anything about you that’s special. You are just an object in which you are probed, pushed, touched, manipulated. And the objectification is very traumatic because you don’t feel as though you’re worth anything. And that’s where the shame comes in and the shame is very hard to escape. And unless you have the proper therapy and the proper family support, it will be a very tough go for you,” she said.
Smerling said it’s common for individuals who have been sexually abused to resort to substance abuse.
Jeffrey Epstein in Cambridge, MA on Sept. 8, 2004. (Rick Friedman/Rick Friedman Photography/Corbis via Getty Images)
“Because there’s got to be a way to numb the pain, whether it’s heroin or alcohol or any kind of other drugs or cutting yourself or starving yourself. Any one of those aspects of coping with traumatic stress is inevitable, and I shouldn’t say it’s inevitable, but it’s more than likely to occur, without the proper support and family structure,” Smerling said. “So if you don’t have an attachment figure to a healthy person, you’ll go to someone who is unhealthy, which was certainly Jeffrey Epstein and all of his cohorts.”
