In a video interview from prison, Ghislaine Maxwell has claimed that an infamous 2001 photograph showing Prince Andrew with his arm wrapped around a then-17-year-old Virginia Giuffre is fake. The photo has been crucial in legitimizing Giuffre’s sexual abuse allegations against the now-disgraced royal.
“I don’t believe it’s real for a second,” Maxwell told TalkTV from a Florida penitentiary where she is serving 20 years for helping procure teenage girls for the late Jeffrey Epstein. “It’s a fake.… There’s never been an original and further there is no photograph. I’ve only ever seen a photocopy of it.”
Maxwell’s comments come amid reports in the U.K. that Prince Andrew is looking into legal options to overturn his sexual assault settlement with Giuffre. Global News could not independently verify these claims.
Prince Andrew was never criminally charged for allegedly having sex with Giuffre when she was underage, and vehemently denies that they ever met or anything sexual went on between them. Last year, he settled a sexual assault lawsuit launched against him by Giuffre in U.S. court and reportedly paid out over US$16 million.
Amid the lawsuit, Prince Andrew was stripped of his royal patronages and military titles.
In a controversial interview with the BBC in 2019, Prince Andrew questioned the authenticity of the bombshell photo showing not only him and Giuffre together, but also Maxwell in the background.
“I don’t believe that photograph was taken in the way that has been suggested,” he said at the time. “It’s a photograph of a photograph of a photograph…. Nobody can prove whether or not that photograph has been doctored.”
Whether or not Prince Andrew would be successful in a potential motion to overturn his multi-million-dollar settlement with Giuffre is dubious.
Lisa Bloom, an L.A.-based lawyer who represents some of Epstein’s victims, wrote in a Twitter threat that “Andrew was represented by experienced, top flight (not to mention expensive) lawyers… Judges will not allow parties ably represented by counsel to welch on deals.”
“Andrew himself is a grown man, 61, of sound mind and fully capable of managing his legal affairs. Judges will not allow competent adults to simply tear up settlement agreements.”
Maxwell acknowledged that Giuffre “travelled with” Epstein, a sex offender who was on trial for running a pedophile ring for the rich and famous before he died in 2019.
“I know that Virginia travelled with Jeffrey, and so it’s entirely possible,” Maxwell said of the Prince Andrew photograph. “It wasn’t something so outrageously out of left field that it couldn’t have happened.
“But the photo doesn’t appear to be real. And I don’t recall it being taken. I have no memory of Virginia and Prince Andrew meeting.”
This isn’t the first time Maxwell has referenced the photo; in an October 2022 interview for a Paramount+ special, she cast doubt on the veracity of the picture.
“I don’t recognize that picture, and I don’t believe it is a real picture,” Maxwell said at the time. “There is no original… and there are that many other things besides that, I cannot hardly get into.”
In this latest prison interview, Maxwell suggested that she could be of assistance in Ukraine.
“Prison is truly one of the most barbaric and terrible experiences any person can undergo. Literally, the only thing that drives me and keeps me sane is the belief I still have something to give,” Maxwell said.
“If the war in Ukraine is still going on, I could use my EMT emergency medical technician and paramedic skills and maybe I could go out and help there.”
She also added that she regretted meeting Epstein.
“I wouldn’t say every man that I fell in love with was a mistake. Some of them have been just wonderful and remain very good friends. The one that I obviously regret the most was Epstein.”