Nobody's Girl: A Memoir of Surviving Abuse and Fighting for Justice

A week into her time at ITM, Giuffre befriended a man named Mathew “Mat” Olsen. At a local boxing match, he introduced her to his friend Robbie, who was studying boxing nearby. Robbie would later tell Giuffre that he fell in love with her at first sight but intentionally played hard to get. Robbie’s tactic worked, as Giuffre found herself flirting with him. The two quickly became inseparable. Although they were opposites, Giuffre felt safe with and understood by Robbie. She soon told him about her experiences with Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell. 

Just a week after meeting, Robbie proposed, and Giuffre accepted. The two married at a temple called Doi Suthep and made plans to return to Australia, where Robbie lived. After the wedding, Robbie urged Giuffre to call Epstein and formally end things. Though frightened, Giuffre did so.

Giuffre and Robbie honeymooned in Vientiane. The more time they spent together, the more they got to know each other. Giuffre increasingly opened up about the abuse she had experienced. One day, Robbie accompanied her as she got a tattoo. It was of a butterfly and stated her love for Robbie. When Mat came to visit, he remarked that Robbie’s psychic, Petra, was right about Robbie’s future love; Robbie was stunned to remember that Petra had predicted his and Giuffre’s meeting. After Mat’s visit, the couple made the trip back to Australia.

Giuffre recalls the start of her life in Australia with humor. She remarks on the teenage clothing she wore and how little she knew when she and Robbie moved in with his parents, Frank and Nina. Giuffre had never done laundry, cleaned, or cooked. While Robbie got a regular job and started saving for their future, Nina and Frank cared for and mentored Giuffre.

Meanwhile, Giuffre struggled to maintain a regular sex life with Robbie. She was unaccustomed to being asked what she liked and didn’t like in bed. She also realized how little she wanted to do sexually because of her abuse. Robbie was sometimes frustrated but never gave up on her.

After Robbie bought Giuffre a dog, they got their own apartment. Robbie saved up some money and tasked Giuffre with going furniture shopping. She came home with only an Xbox. In retrospect, she realizes how little she knew about adulthood. Meanwhile, she struggled to stop taking Xanax, which she relied on to dull her trauma. She was tortured by memories of Epstein and lived in constant fear that he and Maxwell would resurface. Reports about him in the news or interviews with him in print upset her.

Giuffre reflects on her marriage. She deeply loved Robbie but admits that she had trouble trusting even him. Then, one day, everything changed: She got pregnant unexpectedly after years of suspecting she could not have children. In 2006, she gave birth to Alex. Alex was a difficult baby, and Giuffre relied on her in-laws’ help, but she loved him dearly. Alex’s birth made her think about her own family, too. She wanted to repair things with Sky and Lynn. She invited Sky to visit in the fall of 2006, but it proved difficult. Robbie didn’t appreciate his presence, especially given his knowledge of Sky’s alleged abuse.

Early the next year, Giuffre got pregnant with her second son, Tyler. Not long after, Maxwell called Giuffre out of nowhere and revealed that Epstein was being investigated; she implored Giuffre not to tell investigators anything. Epstein called Giuffre a few days later to say the same thing. Giuffre assured him that the past was in the past and that she wasn’t getting involved. Still, she was unnerved that her abusers had tracked her down.

Giuffre would later learn that Epstein was under investigation for molesting a girl in Palm Beach; the girl’s mother had reported him. When Giuffre read the police report, she discovered uncanny overlaps between this survivor’s abuse and her own. Police searched Epstein’s house in 2005, but he had destroyed or removed all evidence of his crimes beforehand. By 2006, more survivors had come forward with similar reports of sexual abuse. In July, Epstein was arrested for “procuring a minor for prostitution and solicitation of a prostitute” (202). However, Giuffre didn’t have this information when Epstein called in 2007.

After Epstein’s call, Giuffre was uncomfortable caring for Alex alone. She and her family moved closer to Robbie’s parents. Their second son, Tyler, was born in 2008. Over time, Giuffre noticed differences between her sons and sought professional help for Tyler’s developmental and behavioral delays. In October, the family visited Petra, who predicted that Giuffre would soon have a baby girl. This news reignited Giuffre’s longing to reconnect with her family. She and Robbie applied for US visas but were denied.

In the following months, Giuffre heard more news of Epstein. A federal prosecutor contacted her about a case in which the government agreed to cancel Epstein’s trial. She soon contacted a lawyer and declared her interest in anonymously participating in a suit against Epstein. She reflects on her sworn statement detailing Epstein’s long-term effects on her.

Epstein only served 13 months in jail for the Palm Beach charges, and he was allowed to work throughout this time. Furious and desperate for justice, Giuffre threw herself into a suit against him. Epstein couldn’t be prosecuted, but he did pay her the requested $500,000 in damages. In retrospect, she could have asked for more.

Giuffre reflects on the birth of her daughter, Ellie, in 2010. Giuffre loved her boys, but Ellie’s birth had an unprecedented effect on her. She immediately knew that she must fight for all little girls by telling her story. She also decided to reconnect with her father. However, when he visited her family again, he behaved inappropriately, riling Robbie.

Not long later, Giuffre began working with the tabloid journalist Sharon Churcher. Churcher wanted to write Giuffre’s story for the Daily Mail. Giuffre agreed but soon realized Churcher was taking liberties with her account. The public twisted her experience, too. Nevertheless, Giuffre believed that the exposure was important to fighting for justice. After Churcher’s story ran, Maxwell denied Giuffre’s claims. Not long later, the FBI interviewed Giuffre. She gave them original photos from her years with Epstein to use in their investigation.

Inspired by her daughter’s tenacity, Giuffre contacted a Florida lawyer named Brad Edwards, who was “challenging the legality” of the government’s “nonprosecution agreement with Epstein” (228). She soon began working with him and his colleague Jack Scarola.

In late 2011, Giuffre started working with the psychologist Judith Lightfoot. She was the best therapist Giuffre had found and helped her work through her continued struggle with PTSD while also aiding Giuffre’s care for her neurodivergent son. Meanwhile, Giuffre pushed for her family to move back to the US. She wanted to work more closely with Edwards and Scarola and wished for her children to know her family.

In 2013, Giuffre and her family relocated to Florida. Life seemed good for a time, but Sky’s proximity unnerved Robbie. Meanwhile, Giuffre threw herself into Edwards and Scarola’s case and continued working with Judith. Judith helped her understand her trauma and the complications of reliving it through her involvement in the legal case. Giuffre recounts particularly difficult experiences that she had facing abusers and revisiting triggering locations during her work with Edwards.

Around this time, Sky admitted to and apologized for abusing Giuffre. She thought that this was significant until she realized that her brothers didn’t know the truth; she worried that their children could be exposed to Sky’s abuse. When she revealed what happened to Danny and Skydy, they were furious and confronted Sky; Sky blamed Giuffre and continued manipulating her. Then, Giuffre discovered that Sky had known about Epstein’s abuse and accepted money from him in exchange for Giuffre. When Giuffre told Robbie, he insisted that they move away from Sky. The family relocated to Colorado Springs to be near Lynn.

Giuffre reflects on her move to Colorado and all the events that preceded it. She wanted a new relationship with Lynn, so she and her family moved close to Lynn and her new husband, Stan.

Giuffre continued working on Edwards’s case in the meantime. Edwards used her testimony anonymously, but Maxwell identified her in the media. Meanwhile, Churcher capitalized on Giuffre’s story in the tabloids, infuriating Giuffre. Then, one day, a lawyer named Sigrid McCawley contacted Giuffre. She wanted to help Giuffre bring Epstein and Maxwell to justice. Giuffre remarks on how hard but important their work was in the pre-#MeToo era. She had overcome so much up until this point and now felt more courageous than ever.