Bombshell jail interview: Ghislaine Maxwell claims photo of Prince Andrew and Virginia Roberts Giuffre is a ‘fake’
Ghislaine Maxwell has spoken for the first time about Prince Andrew and the infamous photo with Virginia Roberts Giuffre. See the video.
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Jailed sex trafficker Ghislaine Maxwell has backed claims by Prince Andrew that an infamous photograph of him with a teenage Virginia Roberts Giuffre is a fake.
Speaking for the first time from jail in a bombshell interview published in The Sun, Maxwell said one of the most damaging exhibits in the case against Prince Andrew was the photo of him with his hand clutching Ms Roberts Giuffre’s bare midriff.
Said to have been taken at Maxwell’s London townhouse in March 2001, it also shows Maxwell standing in the background, grinning broadly.
“This photo is not real,” she said. “There was never an original one produced.”
In February this year, Prince Andrew settled a civil lawsuit brought by Ms Roberts Giuffre accusing the Duke of York of sexually abusing her when she was 17. Prince Andrew has consistently denied Ms Roberts Giuffre’s allegations.
Maxwell also revealed she felt her “dear friend” Prince Andrew had paid “such a price for the association” with her.
“I feel so bad for him. I follow what is happening to him,” she said.
According to filmmaker and journalist Daphne Barak, Maxwell appeared shaken when she was told the Prince’s lawyers had claimed they were never close.
“I accept that this friendship could not survive my conviction,” she told Barak.
“He is paying such a price for the association. I consider him a dear friend. I care about him.”
In two explosive interviews for an upcoming TV special, Maxwell told Barak how she is now convinced Prince Andrew is a victim of faked evidence, The Sun reports.
She also spoke for the first time of her close friendships with former US presidents Bill Clinton and Donald Trump, and her association with “the greatest regret of my life’’, paedophile Jeffrey Epstein.
“I said in my court statement that meeting Epstein was the greatest mistake of my life,” Maxwell said, according to The Sun.
“And obviously, if I could go back today, I would avoid meeting him, and I would make different choices.”
Maxwell spoke of her “special friendship’ with former US president Bill Clinton.
“We had lots in common. I feel bad that he is another victim, only because of his association with Jeffrey. I understand he, like others, can no longer consider me as a friend.”
The Sun reports that Maxwell told Barak how Donald Trump was one of the few people to have shown her any loyalty.
“We knew each other and mingled in the same circles, in New York, Palm Beach. I was very grateful when he wished me well after (the arrest). He got bad media for it, but he dared, while others didn’t.
“I was honoured he remembered me. Well, he is known to say what he thinks. It gave me a big boost.”
Maxwell said her critics had accepted a false version of her as the “Wicked Witch” in Epstein’s story.
“All this is a fictional version of me,” she said. “It has been created to fit the storyline. It has absolutely nothing to do with who I am.
“There are many people who have been impacted by this story.
“I find it curious that so many people choose to contribute to the fake, created version, sort of like a Disney character, the Wicked Witch, if you will. The real people who know me and still love me have never spoken.”
According to The Sun, Maxwell even refused to deny reports she and Prince Andrew were once a couple, claiming: “I have read and seen and heard and had reported to me so many monstrous inaccuracies that I can’t even start to pick apart all of them.
“If I pick apart one and don’t address all the others, it’s going to be, ‘Well, she said no to this. What about all those others?’
“So I’m not going to discuss anything of that nature. After the appeal, I’m going to be super-happy to address with you any of those things.”
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