Publisher agrees to changes in Virginia Giuffre’s memoir after family objections

This cover image released by Knopf shows "Nobody's Girl: A Memoir of Surviving Abuse and Fighting for Justice" by Virginia Roberts Giuffre. (Knopf via AP)

NEW YORK — The publisher of a posthumous memoir by Jeffrey Epstein accuser Virginia Giuffre says it has agreed on a final draft with family members after they publicly raised questions about the book’s release.

Surviving relatives of Giuffre had worried that “Nobody’s Girl” presented an outdated and unduly positive portrait of her marriage, which collapsed in the months leading to her death by suicide in April.

“We worked with Virginia’s brothers and their wives to contextualize the narrative Virginia’s memoir presents, and we appreciate their support of this publication,” Knopf’s publisher and editor-in-chief, Jordan Pavlin, said in a statement Wednesday to The Associated Press.

“We all believe that Virginia’s voice must be heard, and that her courage in telling her story has the power to offer strength and hope to victims of sexual abuse. `Nobody’s Girl’ is a testament to Virginia’s dignity and fortitude in the face of Jeffrey Epstein’s and Ghislaine Maxwell’s monstrous cruelty. Its impact will be profound.”

In an interview that aired Wednesday night, Giuffre’s sister-in-law, Amanda Roberts, confirmed to MSNBC’s Jen Psaki that the two sides had resolved their differences.

Last month, Alfred A. Knopf announced that “Nobody’s Girl” would come out Oct. 21 and called it a “riveting and powerful story of an ordinary girl who would grow up to confront extraordinary adversity.” Family members soon issued a statement saying that “Nobody’s Girl,” which reportedly presents her marriage to Robert Giuffre as part of her healing process, “will undermine Virginia’s credibility as someone who consistently told the truth in her pursuit of justice and accountability.”

The final edition, which Knopf has sent to the printers, includes a foreword that outlines the changes in Giuffre’s life since the manuscript was completed in the fall of 2024. Knopf and her family had spent months working on the language for the foreword, written by Giuffre’s collaborator, the author and journalist, Amy Wallace. Knopf declined to comment further on the foreword’s contents.

Giuffre originally signed in 2023 with Penguin Press, in what Knopf spokesman Todd Doughty said recently was a seven-figure deal. She moved from Penguin to Knopf along with her acquiring editor, Emily Cunningham, who joined Knopf last year. Both Knopf and Penguin are part of Penguin Random House.

Earlier Wednesday, some Giuffre family members joined dozens of survivors of Epstein’s abuse at a news conference on Capitol Hill in Washington, where they called on lawyers to release files of the sex trafficking investigation into the late financier and rejected President Donald Trump’s effort to dismiss the issue as a “hoax.”

“No leniency, no deals, no special treatment,” Sky Roberts, Giuffre’s brother, said at the news conference. “The Epstein documents must be unsealed.”

Doughty has confirmed that “Nobody’s Girl” mentions Trump, who once employed Virginia Giuffre at his private Mar-a-Lago club in Florida, but added that he is not accused of any wrongdoing. The publisher has otherwise declined to offer specifics on anyone else named.

Giuffre had contended she was caught up in Epstein’s sex-trafficking ring in the 2000s and was exploited by Britain’s Prince Andrew and other influential men. Epstein was found dead in a New York City jail cell in 2019 in what investigators described as a suicide. His former girlfriend, Ghislaine Maxwell, was convicted in late 2021 on sex trafficking and other charges.

Hillel Italie, The Associated Press