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

Nobody’s Girl: A Memoir of Surviving Abuse and Fighting for Justice is a posthumous memoir by Virginia Roberts Giuffre. Originally published in 2025 by Alfred A. Knopf, the confessional transformation memoir details Giuffre’s experiences of sexual abuse from her childhood through her adolescence. Giuffre’s account particularly focuses on exposing the abuse Jeffrey Epstein allegedly subjected her to, exploring themes including Confronting and Healing From Trauma, the Danger and Power of Survivors Speaking Out, and Institutional Complicity in Abuse. Giuffre wrote and published the text in collaboration with journalist Amy Wallace before Giuffre’s death in April 2025. With the exception of Wallace’s note, the entirety of the memoir is written from Giuffre’s first-person perspective. 

This guide is based on the 2025 Alfred A. Knopf hardback edition of the memoir.

Content Warning: The source text and this guide feature depictions of sexual content, cursing, child abuse, child sexual abuse, sexual harassment, rape, emotional abuse, physical abuse, mental illness, substance use, addiction, illness, death, death by suicide, gender discrimination, pregnancy loss, bullying, and animal cruelty.

Language Note: The source text uses the term “sex slave” to refer to Giuffre and other girls whom Epstein allegedly trafficked; the term denotes the impossibility of consent (given the girls’ underage status) and other coercive elements of the situation. This guide occasionally reproduces this language in quotes.

Summary

Nobody’s Girl is organized into four sections, which are preceded by a collaborator’s note from Amy Wallace and by Giuffre’s personal introduction. The prefacing sections lay out Wallace’s and Giuffre’s goals for the text and reflect on the writing process. 

Giuffre grew up in Loxahatchee, Florida, with her father (Sky), mother (Lynn), and brothers (Danny and Skydy). Giuffre was a relatively happy child. She loved the outdoors and was a self-declared tomboy. She fell in love with horses when Sky gave her a horse named Alice when she was six. However, around the time Giuffre turned seven, life at home began to change. Lynn grew distant, and Sky started to spearhead Giuffre’s bed and bath time. Giuffre alleges that Sky then began molesting and sexually assaulting her whenever they were alone. Confused and scared, Giuffre stayed silent. She suspected that Lynn knew about the abuse but blamed Giuffre for it.

Forced into silence, Giuffre began to act out. Lynn grew tired of her rebellion and sent her to a juvenile detention center called Growing Together. There, Giuffre experienced more physical, emotional, and psychological abuse, and she ran away from the center repeatedly. Finally, when she was 16, she escaped for good. She tried to hitchhike away from town; the man who gave her a ride violently raped her. She fled, ending up battered and alone on the side of the road with nowhere to go. A wealthy man collected her in a limo and offered her modeling work; he soon began sexually exploiting her.

Giuffre later started to work at Mar-a-Lago. Sky worked maintenance there and got her a receptionist job at the spa. One day, Ghislaine Maxwell entered and invited Giuffre to meet her wealthy friend, Jeffrey Epstein. Giuffre accepted Maxwell’s invitation to the “colleagues’” pink house on El Brillo Way. The so-called “job interview” proved horrifying, as Giuffre states that both Epstein and Maxwell manipulated, assaulted, and sexually abused her. A confused Giuffre did not know what to do. The duo had promised to offer her opportunities in the world of massage. They also paid her and were obviously powerful. She agreed to continue working with them, despite the risks.

Over the following two-and-a-half years, Giuffre worked as Epstein and Maxwell’s “sex slave.” They made constant demands of her and also trafficked her to countless other rich and influential figures. Although desperate for freedom, Giuffre felt incapable of escaping. Epstein had threatened her and her brother, and she feared living on the street. Then, in the summer of 2002, Epstein and Maxwell proposed that Giuffre have their baby for them. Giuffre promised to consider it on the condition that they offer her a proper masseuse education. They arranged for her to attend a massage school in Thailand. Alone on the overseas flight, Giuffre wondered if she might escape once and for all.

Giuffre gradually adjusted to her new freedom. She made friends and rediscovered her love for learning. One day, she met a handsome young man named Robbie. They fell in love at first sight and married a week later. Giuffre and Robbie relocated to Australia, where Robbie and his family lived. Giuffre did not know how to be a wife and quickly realized how little she knew about the adult world. Meanwhile, traumatic memories of Epstein and Maxwell’s abuse resurfaced with a vengeance. She could not enjoy sex with Robbie and lived in constant fear of her abusers finding her.

In 2006, Giuffre and Robbie had a little boy named Alex. Just a year later, Giuffre discovered that she was pregnant with their second child, Tyler. Motherhood revitalized Giuffre and gave her new hope. However, while she was pregnant with Tyler, Epstein and Maxwell found and contacted her. Epstein was under investigation, and they wanted to ensure that Giuffre would remain silent. Terrified, Giuffre vowed not to get involved.

In 2010, however, Giuffre gave birth to a daughter, Ellie. Ellie’s birth made her realize she had to speak out against her abusers. With the help of her therapist, Judith Lightfoot, and lawyer, Sigrid McCawley, she began giving interviews and exposing her enemies’ crimes. There were risks to doing so, but Giuffre refused to give up.

Over the years, Giuffre became involved in numerous cases, legal actions, nonprofits, interviews, and initiatives. She fought to tell her story but also to create space for other women like her. She wanted Epstein and Maxwell to face justice; however, she also knew that there were countless other predators like them who needed to be brought to account. Epstein died in prison shortly after his arrest, but Maxwell was indicted on sex trafficking charges. Giuffre celebrated this win.

Looking back on her years of fighting, Giuffre concludes that she needs a break. She still wants to advocate for girls and women but also needs to put her past behind her. She states her intention to focus on her present and future with her children.