Giuffre’s spokeswoman tells PEOPLE, “It wasn’t a final note”
Following Virginia Giuffre’s death by suicide, her family posted on social media a portion of a handwritten note she penned encouraging abuse survivors to fight for their rights.
In Giuffre’s note, she wrote, “Mothers, Fathers, Sisters, and Brothers need to show the battle lines are drawn, and stand together to fight for the future of victims. Is protesting the answer? I don’t know. But we’ve got to start somewhere.”
Giuffre’s family found the note among her writings at her home, Giuffre’s spokeswoman tells PEOPLE, adding, “It’s not a final note.”
Giuffre, one of the most outspoken accusers of convicted sex offenders Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell, died by suicide at age 41 at her farm outside Perth, Australia, on Thursday, April 24.
On Tuesday, April 29, her sister-in-law Amanda Roberts, along with other family members including Giuffre’s brother, Danny Wilson, posted the portion of the notes on Facebook.
The family shared the note after learning that supporters and survivors including Strength Through Strides had met with senators at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C., and held a march in Giuffre’s honor.
The family wrote in the post, “Hello world. we received news today that there’s a protest in DC. We found a handwritten note that our sister Virginia wrote.
“I think it’s important that the survivors know that she’s with you and her voice will not be silenced. I know that it’s so important, and her wish is that we continue to fight.”
The spokeswoman said Giuffre and the march’s organizers did not know each other and that the event had been planned before her death.
When Giuffre’s family found out about the march, they felt it was “apt” to post the encouraging note Giuffre had written, the spokeswoman tells PEOPLE.
At the end of the post, her family wrote, “To all survivors and those protesting. We stand with you in solidarity and know the fight is not over! #VirginiaRoberts #SurvivorStrong #solidarity #soar #victory.”
Summer Willis, the organizer of the march and founder of Strength Through Strides, a non-profit that supports sexual assault survivors, said she and those who joined her had a “powerful day” meeting with senators at the U.S. Capitol to provide more protections for survivors at the Capitol. The day ended with a march to the Lincoln Memorial “in honor of Virginia.”
Giuffre, Willis tells PEOPLE, “was the first advocate I ever saw speaking out. She gave me the courage to tell my own story.”
She and the others became emotional when Giuffre’s family called Willis when they arrived at the Lincoln Memorial.
“Everyone just stood around the phone as we listened to Virginia’s family and read us the note,” Willis tells PEOPLE. “They said thank you for carrying on her legacy. We were all crying.”
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“I never got to thank Virginia,” she says. “But I can carry on her legacy and work for survivors in her honor.”
Willis and the others marched in honor of Denim Day, which supports sexual assault survivors. Supporters wear denim to protest victim-blaming and shaming.
Giuffre was suffering from emotional and physical pain in the months before her death, her family told PEOPLE previously.
“Everything just accrues on top of one another,” her sister-in-law, Amanda Roberts, told PEOPLE in an exclusive interview on Saturday, April 26.
In the end, Roberts says, the weight of all of her burdens “was too much to carry.”
As her family grieves, they are remembering Giuffre for her “incredible courage” by being one of the first victims to publicly come forward about Epstein and Maxwell.
Convicted in 2008 of soliciting minors for prostitution in Florida, Epstein died by suicide in 2019 in his jail cell at age 66 while awaiting trial on federal sex trafficking charges.
Maxwell, 63, is currently serving a 20-year prison sentence for a 2021 child sex trafficking conviction in connection to Epstein.
In 2021, Giuffre sued Prince Andrew in New York. The two reached an out-of-court settlement in February 2022 of an undisclosed amount.
To honor Giuffre’s memory, the family will continue the work of Speak Out, Act, Reclaim (SOAR), the non-profit she founded to support sexual assault survivors.
“She wished for all survivors to get justice,” says Amanda. “That is who she was.”
