Virginia Giuffre’s Family Speaks Out About Her Suicide at 41: 'Too Much to Carry’ (Exclusive)

• Virginia Giuffre’s family is speaking out following her death in an exclusive interview with PEOPLE
• Virginia, one of convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein’s most prominent accusers, died by suicide on Thursday, April 24
• “She was one of the most beautiful souls you would ever have the chance to meet,” Virginia’s sister-in-law, Amanda Roberts, tells PEOPLE

Virginia Giuffre spent most of her life fighting for justice for herself and other sexual abuse victims. But, in the end, the toll may have been too much, according to her family.

“The world lost a fierce warrior,” Virginia’s sister-in-law, Amanda Roberts, tells PEOPLE in an exclusive interview following Virginia’s death by suicide at age 41. “She wished for all survivors to get justice. That is who she was.”

Virginia, one of the most outspoken accusers of convicted sex offenders Jeffery Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell, died at a farm in the Neergabby area outside of Perth, Australia, where she had lived for the last several years, on Thursday, April 24, her family announced on Friday, April 25.

“We lost our sister,” Amanda says through tears. “Her children lost their mother, and her mother lost her daughter.”

“That’s where we are now. She was one of the most beautiful souls you would ever have the chance to meet,” she continues. “But I think sometimes, that load and that weight becomes too much to carry.”

Emergency services responded to a residence in Neergabby and found an unresponsive 41-year-old, Western Australia Police Force media liaison officer Shelby Brady previously confirmed in a statement to PEOPLE.

Emergency first aid was rendered, but the woman was declared dead at the scene. According to authorities, “early indications” show that “the death is not suspicious.” Major Crime detectives are currently investigating.

Virginia’s brother, Sky Roberts, was staying with her when she died, according to Amanda.

In late March, Virginia said in an Instagram post that she was near death and in the hospital after a car she was in days earlier was struck by a school bus going more than 49 mph.

“I’ve gone into kidney renal failure,” Virginia wrote alongside a photo of herself lying in a hospital bed, her face covered in bruises. “They’ve given me four days to live, transferring me to a specialist hospital in urology.”

Shortly after, Virginia came forward with allegations of abuse against her husband of 22 years, Robert Giuffre.

She told PEOPLE in an exclusive statement, “I was able to fight back against Ghislaine Maxwell and Jeffrey Epstein, who abused and trafficked me. But I was unable to escape the domestic violence in my marriage until recently. After my husband’s latest physical assault, I can no longer stay silent.”

Virginia had reported assault to police in Dunsborough, Western Australia, in January, though Robert was not charged for any crime, Virginia’s rep previously confirmed to PEOPLE.

Robert’s attorney, meanwhile, told PEOPLE in an email statement, “Unfortunately, as the issues you raise are before the Courts in Australia, both he and anyone associated with the case, including Ms Giuffe or her agents, are prohibited from discussing or utilizing the media. Therefore, there is no comment.”

Sky and Amanda told PEOPLE that Virginia had been having marital issues for a while and had separated from Robert — the father of her three children, ages 19, 16 and 15 — sometime around August 2023.

Virginia became known publicly in 2010, when she came forward as a victim of Epstein, who died in his prison cell at age 66 in 2019, and Maxwell, 63, who is currently serving a prison sentence for child sex trafficking in connection with Epstein. 

In 2021, Virginia claimed in a lawsuit filed against Prince Andrew in New York that the royal forced her to have sex with him three times between 1999 and 2002 in London, New York and on a private Caribbean island owned by Epstein. (The two reached an out-of-court settlement in February 2022. The amount was not disclosed.)

Amanda tells PEOPLE she believes the trauma in Virginia’s life may have become too much.

“When you go through what she’s been through her entire life, it’s not over when the court case is over. You are still fighting for the rest of your life,” she says.

“So she’s fighting real physical pain that she endured, and she was fighting her real mental pain. And sometimes when that mental pain overrules, you can’t even see anything else but that,” Amanda continues. “I think it’s everything from when she was a child until that last day.”

Amanda says she still cannot believe that Virginia is dead. “We are all in a stage of wishing this is a nightmare we are going to wake up from,” she tells PEOPLE.

She adds that, in the past few weeks, she and Virginia, whom she considered a “sister,” had “some very, very deep conversations.”

“I tried to encourage her. We as women have the power to heal each other,” Amanda says.

Speaking about Virginia’s role as a mother, Amanda says Virginia loved her three children “fiercely.”

“I would never want them to think that she didn’t love them, because they were always on her mind,” she continues.

Amanda says she and her family will now continue the work of the organization Virginia founded, Speak Out, Act, Reclaim (SOAR), a non-profit that provides support for survivors of sexual assault.

“We’re going to do everything in our power to continue her legacy and will continue to advocate for survivors all over the world,” she tells PEOPLE.