Maria Farmer Honors Late Friend Virginia Giuffre in Advocacy for Sexual Abuse Survivors

Maria Farmer, a visual artist and advocate for sexual abuse survivors, marked the one-year anniversary of her best friend Virginia Giuffre’s death with a heartfelt letter published in USA TODAY on April 25, 2026.

In the letter, Farmer reflected on Giuffre’s legacy and the progress made by survivors in the year since her passing. She wrote that Giuffre’s family and fellow survivors are finally being heard, and that predators such as Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor are being held accountable for their actions.

Farmer noted that a video featuring Giuffre was projected onto Windsor Castle’s wall, and that her sister, Annie Farmer, helped pass a law to compel the Department of Justice to release the Epstein files.

She recalled how, for years, Giuffre was the person who listened to her and validated her experiences, saying, “For so many years, you were the person who listened. You witnessed my life, and that meant it was real, and reality. It was a rare gift for someone who’s spent so many years ignored and unheard.”

Farmer also referenced her own history with Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell, stating that in 1996 she contacted the New York City Police Department and FBI to report that Epstein and Maxwell had lied to her family, lured her to isolated locations, sexually abused and assaulted her, and threatened her life if she ever reported the abuse.

The letter was written one year to the day after Giuffre died by suicide on April 25, 2025, at the age of 41, following a prolonged custody battle that kept her from her three children and a car accident on March 25, 2025.

The following day after Giuffre’s death, Farmer sent an email to the FBI with the subject line “Everyone thought it was a game,” addressed to lawyers involved in the Epstein civil litigation, including David Boies, Sigrid McCawley, and Jennifer Freeman.

Farmer has continued her advocacy work as a visual artist, standing alongside other survivors in efforts to ensure that the abuse they endured is not repeated.