A socialite ex of Britain’s Prince Andrew insisted Tuesday that their “secretive” mutual friend Ghislaine Maxwell was “brainwashed” by late pedophile Jeffrey Epstein.
“I think she was so brainwashed by [Epstein] and so in love with him that she lost the reality of what she was doing,” Lady Victoria Hervey, 44, told ITV’s “Lorraine” talk show, according to a clip shared by Metro.
“It was very shocking when I first heard everything about her because that was not the Ghislaine I knew,” insisted Hervey, the daughter of the 6th Marquess of Bristol.
“I think she got in way too deep and just couldn’t leave,” she said of Maxwell, who remains in custody in Brooklyn awaiting trial on federal sex trafficking charges tied to Epstein.
Hervey said she has known Maxwell — the daughter of disgraced media baron Robert Maxwell — at least 20 years. She has previously said Maxwell introduced her to Andrew, whom she dated briefly in 1999.
“She was always the centre of every fun party and she was a vibrant character that a lot of people wanted to be around,” Hervey said, recalling one party where former President Bill Clinton joined them all.
“She loved fame and power. If you weren’t going to be of any use to her, she wasn’t going to pay you any attention.
“Bill Clinton was the president at the time and I think she liked to flaunt that she was friends with someone so powerful,” she said.
Still, Hervey said Maxwell “always exuded this air of mystery about her, you just never really knew where she’d flown in from and was quite secretive about her life.”
Hervey said she noted Epstein’s behavior with young women, but put it down to typical behavior of many rich men she met in high society in both London and New York.
“I think there’s a lot of people in his position that like to be surrounded by young models — it didn’t look that different to what I’d seen before,” she said.
“I was very young and very naive and didn’t realise what was happening.”
Hervey believes Epstein gave her pal the financial security she needed, while she provided access to “all these powerful people.”
“Everybody knew Ghislaine Maxwell but no one knew him. It was a partnership they had,” she said.
Hervey said that it will be “really tough” for Maxwell in custody.
“If you’re used to luxury, it will be hell on Earth for her I’m sure,” she said.
“I think she’s very tough but it’s a front, I don’t think she is as tough on the inside as what she exudes on the outside,” she warned.
Maxwell is accused of procuring four girls for Epstein to abuse in the 1990s and early 2000s and also charged with lying under oath. She has pleaded not guilty and maintains her innocence.
Epstein killed himself in his Manhattan lockup in August 2019 while awaiting further serious sex charges. Andrew has repeatedly denied any knowledge of his late pal’s crimes and denied having sex with one of his accusers.
