Ghislaine Maxwell has spoken for the first time about her 'living hell' behind bars – claiming that she has been assaulted and abused by prison guards, purposely deprived of sleep and given rotting food to eat.
In a world exclusive, Ms Maxwell, who had her £21 million bail application denied for the fourth time last week, also claims negative media coverage while she has been in custody and the deliberate withholding of evidence have made it 'impossible' for her to receive a fair trial.
Speaking from her 10ft by 12ft prison cell inside New York's notorious Metropolitan Detention Center, where she has spent the past 16 months in solitary confinement, Ms Maxwell said: 'I have been assaulted and abused for almost a year and a half.
'I have not had a nutritious meal in all that time. I haven't slept without lights on – fluorescent lights that have damaged my eyes – or been allowed to sleep without constant interruptions.
'I am weak, I am frail. I have no stamina. I am tired. I don't even have shoes which fit properly. They feed me rotten food. One apple had maggots in it. I have not been allowed to exercise.'
Speaking from her 10ft by 12ft prison cell inside New York's notorious Metropolitan Detention Center, where she has spent the past 16 months in solitary confinement, Ghislaine Maxwell said: 'I am weak, I am frail. I have no stamina. I am tired. I don't even have shoes which fit properly. They feed me rotten food. One apple had maggots in it. I have not been allowed to exercise.' (Left, Ghislaine has lost weight while in the detention centre; right, she is pictured in 2010)
Despite her grim surroundings, Ms Maxwell manages to force a smile as she describes how prison guards were so impressed by her hairdressing skills that they gave her paper-cutting scissors and joked that she should open her own salon. (Above, the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn)
Ms Maxwell, who faces the rest of her life behind bars if convicted of abusing and procuring young girls for billionaire financier Jeffrey Epstein (above, with Ghislaine in 2005) – charges that she vehemently denies – claims that a 'friendly rat' routinely sat next to her on an open sewer as she went to the toilet
Ms Maxwell, who faces the rest of her life behind bars if convicted of abusing and procuring young girls for billionaire financier Jeffrey Epstein – charges that she vehemently denies – claims:
A 'friendly rat' routinely sat next to her on an open sewer as she went to the toilet; She has stopped taking showers as 'creepy' guards stare at her; Her mail has been tampered with and she has been 'purposely' prevented from preparing for trial by being given vital evidence too late; The jury pool has been so tainted by the continuous slurs against her character she believes it will be virtually 'impossible' to get a fair trial.Some will say that a woman accused of sexually abusing young women, including a 14-year-old girl, deserves no sympathy. Others will argue that the American justice system is inhumane.
Either way, she remains innocent in the eyes of the law before her trial.
At 59, the Ghislaine of today is a far cry from the glamorous woman who was once a fixture on the international social scene, where she mingled with world leaders such as Bill and Hillary Clinton and was close friends with royalty, including Prince Andrew.
Today, the designer outfits have been replaced by the shapeless overalls of prisoner 02879-509.
Her trademark hair, once coiffed by French stylist Frederic Fekkai, is streaked with grey and fashioned into a shoulder-length style she managed to craft using toenail clippers while peering into a 3in by 5in hand mirror.
Despite her grim surroundings, she manages to force a smile as she describes how prison guards were so impressed by her hairdressing skills that they gave her paper-cutting scissors and joked that she should open her own salon.
But the harsh reality for a woman dubbed a 'socialite' – a term she fiercely objects to – has been what she describes as a living hell ever since more than 20 armed FBI agents swooped on her 156-acre, £800,000 New Hampshire home in July 2020.
At 59, the Ghislaine of today is a far cry from the glamorous woman who was once a fixture on the international social scene, where she mingled with world leaders such as Bill and Hillary Clinton and was close friends with royalty, including Prince Andrew. Today, the designer outfits have been replaced by the shapeless overalls of prisoner 02879-509. (Above, Ghislaine with Epstein and Bill Clinton in 1993)
Maxwell's trial will also put Prince Andrew's relationship with her, and Epstein, back under the spotlight. The Duke of York's accuser Virginia Roberts, who claims she was sex-trafficked to Andrew three times (the first when she was 17 and under the legal age of consent), has vowed to attend the trial. Andrew has vehemently denied Ms Roberts's claims. His friendship with Ghislaine stretches back decades and he was notoriously photographed with his arm around Ms Roberts's waist inside Maxwell's London mews house (above)
She has remained in custody ever since, surviving mostly on a diet of rice and beans with unsalted peanuts for protein and mayonnaise for fat.
Her arrest came 11 months after Epstein, her ex-boyfriend and long-time friend, killed himself in jail while facing child sex charges. Until Epstein's suicide, Maxwell had never faced criminal charges.
Her lawyers are expected to argue she is being punished by proxy for Epstein's heinous crimes because, as one source close to the case maintains, 'someone has to pay for what he did'.
Maxwell has told friends: 'I fear it will be impossible to get a fair trial. I have tremendous fear that overwhelmingly negative media stories will poison my jury pool and affect the outcome of my trial despite the evidence that will demonstrate everything the jurors thought they knew isn't true.
'I look forward to finally having my day in court to prove I played no part in Epstein's crimes.'
She cannot discuss the specifics of her case on the advice of her powerful legal team. Jury selection begins tomorrow, with the trial starting on November 29. The charges are grave. US authorities have described her as a 'procurer' of underage girls for convicted paedophile Epstein.
She also faces multiple felony charges, including 'transporting a minor for the purposes of criminal sexual activity' and 'conspiring to entice minors to travel to engage in illegal sex acts'.
Maxwell's trial will also put Prince Andrew's relationship with her, and Epstein, back under the spotlight.
The Duke of York's accuser Virginia Roberts, who claims she was sex-trafficked to Andrew three times (the first when she was 17 and under the legal age of consent), has vowed to attend the trial.
Andrew has vehemently denied Ms Roberts's claims. His friendship with Ghislaine stretches back decades and he was notoriously photographed with his arm around Ms Roberts's waist inside Maxwell's London mews house.
One lawyer associated with the case said: 'This will thrust Andrew back under the spotlight. It is inconceivable his name won't be introduced by the women who will testify against Maxwell. He must be dreading it.'
Ghislaine, the Oxford-educated daughter of disgraced newspaper tycoon Robert Maxwell, was transferred to the Brooklyn prison in July last year and has been seen by the public only in court sketches since then. In real life, the 20 lb she has lost is obvious. Her cheeks are sunken and her skin pale.
Prince Andrew's accuser Virginia Roberts is expected to attend the trial and may give evidence. She has described Maxwell as 'pure evil', saying: 'Epstein was a sick paedophile but Maxwell was the mastermind.'(She is pictured leaving the US Federal Courthouse in NY in August 2019)
I first met Ghislaine in 1992 when I interviewed her mother, Robert Maxwell's widow Betty, following the tycoon's extraordinary death off the coast of Tenerife – just before it was discovered he plundered his newspapers' pension funds.
Ghislaine had just relocated to New York and joined her grieving mother at the Plaza Hotel. Ghislaine was pretty. She was smart and articulate. Yet she also seemed vulnerable. She was 'Daddy's Little Girl' and clearly grieving deeply.
At the time, she told me she was living in a small studio on Manhattan's Upper East side 'given to me by a friend… Jeffrey'.
She was 'working on certain things to make money. I must make money!' as she put it.
She went on, of course, to live a glamorous jet-set life, moving between Epstein's homes: in Florida, his New York mansion (the biggest private home in Manhattan), his private Caribbean island and his ranch in New Mexico.
She also ended up owning a New York townhouse – which she sold for £12 million – and having a successful career including founding TerraMar, a charity focused on oceans.
I reconnected with Ghislaine three months ago when my friend Susan Zirinsky, the first female president of CBS News, asked me to get involved with a major new documentary, Ghislaine, a four-hour show which will air on ITV in the UK and CBS-Paramount plus at the end of the six-week trial.
With my
