Virginia Giuffre, who accused Prince Andrew and Jeffrey Epstein of sexual assault, died by suicide on April 24 at her home in Australia. Her sister-in-law Amanda Roberts has revealed that she had several "very deep" conversations with her in the months leading up to her death.
Ms Roberts claimed that her lifetime suffering was worsened by her recent chaotic personal life. "Everything just accrues on top of one another," she told PEOPLE.
Ms Giuffre might have experienced too much trauma in her life, leading up to her death, she added. "Sometimes when that mental pain overrules, you can't even see anything else but that," she said.
Ms Roberts said that in her "very, very deep conversations" over the last couple of months with Ms Giuffre, she tried to encourage her. "We as women have the power to heal each other," she said.
After escaping Jeffery Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell, Ms Giuffre settled in Australia with her husband Robert Giuffre, whom she met in 2002 while undergoing training to work as a masseuse for Epstein in Thailand.
Weeks before she died by suicide, Ms Giuffre alleged that her husband physically abused her during their time together.
In February, he eventually filed a temporary family restraining order against Ms Giuffre, granting him primary custody of her children and preventing her from communicating with them.
At the end of the conversation, Ms Roberts said the burden of all her troubles "was too much to carry."
"She lost her life to suicide after being a lifelong victim of sexual abuse and sex trafficking," the family said in a statement about Ms Giuffre's death.
They decided to honour her by carrying on the work of Speak Out, Act, Reclaim (SOAR), the non-profit organisation she founded to assist survivors of sexual assault.
