Ghislaine Maxwell Opens Up About Her Friendship With Prince Andrew In Rare Prison Interview

Prince Andrew continues to steal the spotlight away from his brother in the worst possible ways. The scandal that won't end got a fresh breath of life this weekend when Ghislaine Maxwell finally spoke out from behind bars. The convicted sex trafficker spoke with documentarian Daphne Barak about a number of topics (via Daily Mail) including Maxwell's relationships with former presidents Bill Clinton — with whom she shared a "special friendship — and Donald Trump — who "wish[ed] her well" after she was arrested — along with where she and Prince Andrew currently stand.

Maxwell is serving a 20-year sentence at Tallahassee's Federal Correctional Institute and it's between Florida and Metropolitan Detention Centre in Brooklyn, New York, where, according to Barak, she was given special permission to speak on camera (per Daily Mail).

Whether Prince Andrew likes it or not, he will forever be tied to Maxwell because of the accusations of sexual abuse of a minor — a lawsuit that the Duke of York settled out of court with his accuser, Virginia Giuffre, per CBS News. According to Giuffre, she met the prince through Maxwell and the now-deceased businessman Jeffrey Epstein.

As much as Prince Andrew continues to deny his closeness with Maxwell and Epstein, Insider pointed out that it was just back in June when a documentary on ITV raised questions about whether or not Maxwell and Prince Andrew had been closer than anyone realized. Now, their relationship is back in the headlines as Maxwell shares new details with Barak.

When Ghislaine Maxwell's lawyers told her that Prince Andrew was saying he and Maxwell weren't close, The Guardian reported at the time, Maxwell was "shaken." But now that she's had apparent time to reflect, she told documentarian Daphne Barak that she understands why so many have distanced themselves from Jeffrey Epstein's mess (via Daily Mail).

Maxwell admitted to being disappointed that she was no longer considered a friend of former President Bill Clinton, who Sky News reported Maxwell claims to have shared a lot in common with. One former president giving Maxwell continued support, though, is Donald Trump. In the Daily Mail, Barak shared that Maxwell was happy to have Trump's friendship, sharing that his support has been a morale booster for her.

When it comes to Prince Andrew, Maxwell admits she understands why he can no longer be associated with her. "He is paying such a price for the association with Jeffrey Epstein," she told Barak, adding that she not only still cares about the Duke of York, but she also feels "so bad for him."

Ghislaine Maxwell told Daphne Barak in her first interview since she began her 20-year sentence that she understands why she's lost so many of her close friends after her conviction, per The Guardian. What she doesn't understand is how she could not have questioned the picture of Prince Andrew and Virginia Giuffre before now.

The picture of Prince Andrew and Giuffre was, according to the Daily Mail, taken on March 10, 2001. Much of the case against Prince Andrew was built around this picture, the Independent reports, who also raised questions about the pictures' validity in the 2019 BBC interview that cost him his job as a working royal. Michael Thomas, a freelance photographer who met with Giuffre, told the Independent that the question about whether or not the picture is real is answered by the fact that no one — not Prince Andrew, the royal family, or even Maxwell — sued any media outlet who ran the picture.

Now, however, Maxwell is changing her mind. In the interview with Barak, Maxwell said that "at this time, I no longer believe that to be a true image, and I don't believe that it is what it appears to be" (via Daily Mail). She added that she's never seen an original, despite verifying the picture's validity to her own lawyer back in 2015, according to The Guardian.

Besides the infamous picture of Prince Andrew and Virginia Giuffre, Ghislaine Maxwell is raising questions about Jeffrey Epstein's cause of death. In her behind-bars interview with Daphne Barak, Maxwell spoke openly about how she felt she and others, like Prince Andrew, were victims of knowing Jeffrey Epstein. Now, she is a prisoner of the American justice system, where to her, the media has been able to paint her as "the Wicked Witch in Epstein's story," per Daily Mail.

Part of Maxwell's argument against her current situation is that there is no "innocent until proven guilty" in America because of the pre-trial news coverage allowed to take place — something that Maxwell felt was better controlled in the United Kingdom. "Here in America, you're just swamped with appalling press when you are indicted and you have no right to speak."

Maxwell's complaints don't end there. Not only has she filed over 300 complaints to prison officials — claiming lack of food, clean water, and "profound loneliness" — but she told Barak that the Bureau of Prisons's "lack of transparency" and hesitation to answer questions has her seriously doubting whether Epstein actually killed himself (via Daily Mail). Maxwell admitted that his death was not just a complete shock; to her, the timeline of events don't necessarily add up.

With 23 out of 24 hours spent locked inside a 10ft by 8ft cell, Maxwell undoubtedly has a lot of time to think things through.