Anoushka de Giorgio (10:31)
Sure. So I had recently moved back from the south of France where I had been at school, back to London and England, where I'm from, with my mother. And so I was sort of moving to a place that I was not familiar with. And, you know, I had had some difficulties prior to that. So I would say that, you know, it's important to recognize that many of these survivors, myself included, had vulnerability, had instability that made us, and therefore me prime targets for this kind of grooming and this kind of abuse. So I was 16 and I traveled to Paris with. With a. A male friend who had actually known Ghislaine. And I met her in passing, sort of in the hotel lobby. And she was. I mean, you know, I really didn't have my place in London. I. I didn't know anyone really there. I didn't have any friends. I was going to. To high school there and trying to manage, transitioning from a different country and making friends and also trying to complete my studies because I was always very academic, and I had applied to and earned a place at Oxford University to read law. And when I met Ghislaine Maxwell, she was extremely impressive. I mean, I will recognize that despite the fact that Ghislaine is a monster, she's a very smart monster, and she knew exactly what to say. And I mean, you know, Jeffrey is a crude, very unpolished person, and there's no way I would be going to his house or entertaining, spending time with him. But Guylaine was everything that I needed and everything that I wanted, because I really wanted to. I aspired to be like her. She was kind of almost the age of my parents, and. And, you know, she was so interested in me. And it's not often that somebody of that age and that, you know, with that much acclaim takes such an interest in somebody so much younger than them in the way that they want to be friends, because we really weren't contemporaries, although we'd had very similar upbringings. And she very much leveraged that. You know, Ghislaine went to Marlborough School, and I had been to Marlborough School. Ghislaine had studied at Oxford University, and I had earned myself a place at Oxford University. We both had very powerful, quite domineering fathers, and we both spoke French. So she connected with me. And, you know, now, in retrospect, I can see how deliberate that was. But at the time, I just thought this was the most amazing opportunity to have a friend, to have somebody who was interested in helping me, in getting to know me. And she excitedly gave me her phone number. She lived very close to my mother's house, where I lived, and she encouraged us to stay in touch. And when I got back to London, you know, we. We did stay in touch, and she invited me over for tea. I was very excited. I told my mother about it, and I was excited to go and see my new friend who she had reminded me, you know, that. That I had so many connections to her and we had so many things in common. And so I. I got ready and I went and had tea with her, and she asked all the right questions. And of course, now I recognize as a mental health professional, professional that, you know, the grooming process is very deliberate, and she was very good at it. And she. She was so interested in me. And that's a wonderful feeling for somebody who doesn't really know where they belong. You know, she noticed that I was lonely, that I was vulnerable, that I was shy, that I was trusting, maybe insecure. And. And then she offered kindness and support. And she talked in our first meeting when we had tea, she talked about this amazing boyfriend that she had. And she said, he's, like a philanthropist, and his favorite thing to do is to help young people, especially young women. And I was like, oh, he sounds amazing. And she said, well, yes, if you're very lucky, you might get to meet him. And so already that seed was planted that I was going to possibly have this great opportunity. And when you give somebody that sort of carrot, it's like, it makes you. Everybody wants something that they might not be able to get. And suddenly it was like my eyes were like, oh, my God, you know, who is this amazing person? So it wasn't long before she called, and she said, you know, great news. He's here. Can you come? How soon can you come? And so I got myself ready, and I was under the impression that this was, like, an interview, that if I played my cards right, this would be the key to so many doors opening for me and for me to get the things that I wanted, not necessarily the things my parents wanted for me. She knew that I was meant to go to Oxford, but she would say to me, that's what your parents want, right? But what do you really want to do? And I wanted to be in music. And she said, well, let's see what we can do. Unlike many of the other survivors, I came from a outwardly privileged background. I was not short of money. This wasn't a thing where I was looking to be paid $300 or something. This was a thing where I wanted to belong, and I wanted opportunity, and I wanted connection. So when she said, you know, this is your chance. Come over, I got dressed in my mother's suit, because I want in my mother's clothes because I wanted to look sophisticated. And I ran over there. And from the very moment that I first entered Guylain's house in London, Knightsbridge, I was being groomed. And when I came in, it was very much that thing. And it was small. In Guylanne's house, it was like a muse house. So it was quite small. And as you walked in, Geoffrey was sitting in the front room in a chair in sweatpants, And Ghislaine answered the door, and she went and sat down. And I was not invited to sit down. So I was standing. And so already there was this sort of, like, feeling of, oh, I'm sort of like, I'm not on the same level as these people, because they're sitting and I'm standing, and And I was. He said, hello. He was on the phone when I came in. And then when. When he got off the phone, which was an uncomfortable amount of time that I was standing, waiting by the front door, shifting from foot to foot, nervously, wondering if this interview would go well. And then, you know, he. He got off the phone and he said, oh, is this the one you've told me about? Oh, amazing. And then he asked me all these questions, you know, and Guylaine would interject and sort of note my accolades, and she's this and she's that, and, you know, as if this was really an interview and I was waiting to see if I got in kind of thing. So at some point during this strange interaction, and bear in mind, these were. People were older. I'm from England, and we were taught to spoke when you're. Speak when you're spoken, to respect your elders, not question authority. And I mean, I'm 48 years old now, and this was in the 90s. We really didn't kind of step out of line. So when I was asked questions, I just answered them. And at that point, at some point, Guslaine said, oh, and she's so strong. She has incredibly strong hands. She's strangely strong for a girl her age, you know, and he. She'd already mentioned that, you know, I was at school and that I was going to Oxford University. And she said, yeah, show him how strong your hands are. And I was kind of like, okay. Like, I was very uncomfortable. And she said, just give. Give his foot a squeeze. And I felt very uncomfortable, but I felt like it wasn't a bad enough thing to ask that I could say no, and it would be. I felt like it would be more uncomfortable to say no than it would be to do it. So I did it. And then I got all this praise, right? And this is part of that grooming process as well. You give them, they dangle the carrot. They connect with people who are vulnerable. And then when you do something right, the praise comes. And. And all the praise came. And then at some point, the phone rang again. He got on the phone and she kind of gestured that it was my time to leave and sort of shuffled me out the door. I never got to sit down, and I was very confused. I felt really sort of spun around. And I got back and, you know, I had told my mother, I have this kind of interview opportunity. And I didn't really know how it went. And then Ghislaine called and she said, wow, you know, you did really well. And, oh, my God, this is it. Because he loves you. And then within a short period, she called me back and she said, listen, I need a favor. I need your help. Jeffrey's massage therapist has cancelled. And listen, he just is very picky about these things, and he's actually asked for you. And I know this isn't really what you do, but can you come? If you could come right now, that would be really doing a big favor for me because he's very demanding and, you know, he's very busy and important. And so I said, okay. And I went over and, you know, I'm not going to go into the details of that situation because it's triggering for me. And it's also triggering, I think, for people to hear, especially if they've been victimized. But the first experience became somewhat sexual, but it was in increments that I could. That I now can see. They were testing how far they could go. And if it was slightly too far, then it would be pulled back a little bit until the shame came in. And, you know, I then once, once a couple of these experiences had happened, I felt dissociated some of the time. I also felt ashamed. I certainly felt that I couldn't tell anybody because I wouldn't even know how to begin talking. I mean, I'd never really talked about sex with anybody, let alone my parents. So I thought the best thing to do was hope this just went away. And of course, it didn't go away. It got worse, and it got worse, and I went to Palm beach. And when I was in Palm beach, it was. It was really bad. And I was also.
