Woman who survived Jeffery Epstein's sex trafficking ring says she was gaslit for years: 'Even my own father said, 'You made your bed, you can lie in it.''
ED JONES/AFP via Getty Images
- Sarah Ransome arrived at Jeffery Epstein's island in 2006 after being convinced Epstein could help her career.
- Ransome wrote in a Washington Post op-ed that women trafficked as adults were often victim-blamed.
- "Since coming forward in 2016, I have been called a 'gold digger,' a 'whore' and a 'prostitute,'" Ransome wrote.
Sarah Ransome was 22 years old in 2006 when a woman groomed by Jeffery Epstein convinced her that Epstein and his accomplice, Ghislaine Maxwell, could provide her connections to the world of fashion.
Like many victims of Epstein's sex trafficking ring, Ransome was lured in by the promises of opportunities from some of the world's most powerful people.
However, Ransome later found herself on a plane on the way to Epstein's island with no passport or phone.
She would endure mental and physical abuse for a year.
Ransome wrote in a Washington Post op-ed that because she was an adult victim, she was gaslit for years and had to manage accusations that she deserved the abuse.
"Since coming forward in 2016, I have been called a 'gold digger,' a 'whore' and a 'prostitute,'" Ransome wrote. "Even my own father said, 'You made your bed, you can lie in it.'"
Ransome detailed much of the abuse in her memoir, "Silenced No More: Surviving My Journey to Hell and Back" and said she was subjected to starvation and rape by Epstein himself during her time on his island.
Epstein was arrested on July 6, 2019, at an airport in New Jersey on suspicion of sex trafficking minors.
He later committed suicide while being held at the Metropolitan Correctional Center in Manhattan awaiting trial n charges of conspiracy and sex trafficking.
His associate, Maxwell, was convicted of sex trafficking and conspiracy charges in December of last year and sentenced to 20 years in prison in June. Earlier this month, attorneys for Maxwell began the process of appealing her verdict and sentence.
Ransome wrote that Maxwell's sentencing was a validating experience for her.
"When I heard the eerie clink of shackles as Ghislaine Maxwell entered her sentencing hearing in a New York courtroom last month," Ransome wrote, "I thought: 'I will never doubt myself again.'"