Ghislaine Maxwell once stared down a courtroom and swore the infamous photo—Prince Andrew’s arm around a young Virginia Giuffre—was fake, impossible, a fabrication. Now, in her own private draft statement that somehow escaped into the open, those words lie in ruins.
She writes plainly that the photograph is real. She acknowledges that Jeffrey Epstein committed crimes.
The quiet admission in her own handwriting directly contradicts every oath she took under penalty of perjury. What she denied in public, she appears to have conceded in secret.
Years of fierce denials, high-stakes testimony, and a carefully guarded image—undone by a single leaked document she never meant for the world to see.
The full draft reveals far more than she ever admitted in court.
Ghislaine Maxwell, once a key figure in Jeffrey Epstein’s circle and now serving a 20-year sentence for sex trafficking, has long maintained a defiant public stance denying key elements of the allegations against her and her associates. In a high-profile jailhouse interview in 2023, she boldly declared the infamous photograph of Prince Andrew with his arm around Virginia Giuffre to be “fake.” She insisted, “I don’t believe it’s real for a second… It’s a fake… there’s never been an original,” casting doubt on one of the most iconic pieces of evidence in the Epstein scandal. This photo, taken around 2001 at Maxwell’s London home, shows a young Giuffre (then 17), Prince Andrew, and Maxwell herself, and has symbolized Giuffre’s claims of being trafficked and sexually abused by powerful men in Epstein’s orbit.
Prince Andrew, too, has questioned the image’s authenticity, suggesting it might have been doctored, and famously claimed no recollection of meeting Giuffre, even citing an alibi involving a Pizza Express visit. Maxwell’s courtroom testimony and depositions aligned with this line of defense, where she repeatedly rejected the photo’s legitimacy and any wrongdoing tied to it.
Yet a recent release from the U.S. Department of Justice’s Epstein files has upended that narrative. In a 2015 email to Jeffrey Epstein, containing what appears to be a “draft statement” authored by Maxwell (sent under “G Maxwell”), she writes plainly about the events of 2001: “In 2001 I was in London when [redacted] met a number of friends of mine including Prince Andrew. A photograph was taken as I imagine she wanted to show it to friends and family.” Though names are redacted, the context—dates, locations, and references to allegations of being a “sex slave for the rich and famous”—aligns closely with Giuffre’s accounts and her memoir. Maxwell even notes Prince Andrew visited her home, where the encounter and photo occurred.
This private draft, never intended for public eyes, directly contradicts her sworn public denials. In court and interviews, she swore under penalty of perjury that the photo was fabricated or impossible. Here, in her own words to Epstein, she acknowledges its existence as a casual memento. The document also implicitly concedes Epstein’s criminal behavior, clashing with years of fierce denials where Maxwell portrayed herself as unaware of any “improper” activity.
The revelation has been described as vindicating for Giuffre’s family (noting Giuffre passed away in 2025), who stated it shows her claims were credible all along. It exposes a stark discrepancy: what Maxwell admitted privately in 2015, she vehemently rejected publicly for years afterward, including during her trial.
This leaked draft, part of broader Epstein file releases under the Epstein Files Transparency Act, underscores the layers of deception in the case. Maxwell’s carefully constructed defenses—built on denials, questionable alibis, and dismissals—now lie in tatters, undone by her own unfiltered words. The scandal continues to raise questions about accountability for the powerful figures entangled in Epstein’s network, with this document serving as a quiet but devastating admission that what was once called impossible was, in fact, all too real.
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