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In her first broadcast interview since being convicted and imprisoned for her role in securing underaged girls for the late Jeffrey Epstein, 61-year-old Ghislaine Maxwell is spilling the beans on what she knew regarding a now-infamous photo featuring Prince Andrew and Virginia Guiffre.
According to a snippet of the interview obtained by the Daily Mail, Maxwell claimed that she has “no memory” of the prince ever meeting with Guiffre and that the photo of the three of them together is “fake.”
“The infamous snap of the pair, which was reportedly taken in March 2001 at Maxwell’s apartment, was given by Ms Guiffre to The Mail on Sunday in February 2011,” the outlet reported, adding:
Ms Guiffre, previously Roberts, claimed she was forced to have sex with the Prince when she was 17, having been trafficked by convicted pedophile Jeffrey Epstein, who in 2019 was found dead in his prison cell.
“I have no memory of them meeting. And I don’t think that picture is real,” says Maxwell in the interview which will be aired on Jeremy Kyle’s TalkTV on Monday.
“It is a fake. I don’t believe it is real for a second, in fact I am sure it is not. There has never been an original, there is no photograph,” she added. “There is no original of that photo, (just) copies of copies and parts of it, according to some experts, look like it has been photoshopped. I don’t remember her in my home.”
The outlet added:
The interview comes as Prince Andrew is to launch a dramatic bid to overturn the multi-million-pound settlement he struck with Ms Guiffre in an attempt to get her to retract her sexual assault allegations and possibly secure an apology.
The Duke of York has taken action after Ms Guiffre dropped her lawsuit against Epstein’s former lawyer Alan Dershowitz last year, who she also accused of sexual assault.
All said, Maxwell said it wasn’t out of the realm of possibility that, at some point, the prince could have met with Guiffre as she traveled with Epstein.
“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,” she insisted.
WATCH:
In February 2022, Andrew agreed to pay the 39-year-old Guiffre a settlement while not admitting to anything and has continued to proclaim his innocence in the months since. But there has been fallout: He’s an outcast within the royal family, “was stripped of his military titles and asked not to use his HRH title,” The Mail noted.
“Andrew felt as if he was in a pressure cooker, as if he was given no option but to settle,” a source told the outlet. “But he never wanted to settle and has always insisted he was innocent. He wants to see what legal routes might be available to him.”
Andrew himself has questioned the legitimacy of the photo, saying he had “no recollection” of meeting Guiffre and that he’s not one to show affection in front of others anyway.
In October, Maxwell broke her silence on those who were close friends, including former President Bill Clinton.
“It was a special friendship, which continued over the years,” she said.
“We had lots in common. I feel bad that he is another victim, only because of his association with Jeffrey. I understand that he, like others, can no longer consider me as a friend.
“I said in open court in my statement that meeting Jeffrey Epstein was the greatest mistake of my life,” she said.
“And obviously, if I could go back today and I would avoid meeting him, and I would say that would be the greatest mistake I’ve ever made, and I would make different choices for where I would work. Obviously,” she said.
“I think there are many women who can identify with my story. Many have either fallen in love with or had relationships with men that in hindsight they look back on and say ‘What was I thinking?’ I imagine there’s not a woman on the planet who would not think that about one or other of their boyfriends,” the former socialite said.
“There were things to mention here about him that I cannot discuss because of the appeal, but I can’t say anything more than that,” she added.
