Fox News Flash top entertainment headlines for December 1
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Ghislaine Maxwell was determined to marry her boss – Jeffrey Epstein.
The claim was made by Christina Oxenberg, a cousin to the British royal family who briefly knew the socialite.
"Jeffrey paid her very well," the 58-year-old told Fox News. "She started working for him pretty much immediately after her father died. I think she saw him as her savior. She wanted everyone to believe they were a couple. She wanted to marry Jeffrey. I have no idea if Jeffrey knew about this. My suspicion is that he did because he [wasn’t] a dummy."
Christina Oxenberg is the daughter of Princess Elizabeth of Yugoslavia – Prince Andrew’s second cousin. (Stephen Lovekin/FilmMagic)
Oxenberg is the daughter of Princess Elizabeth of Yugoslavia – Prince Andrew’s second cousin. Oxenberg has previously detailed her upbringing in a serialized memoir on Patreon. And most recently, she wrote a book titled "Trash: Encounters with Ghislaine Maxwell."
According to Oxenberg, the two women first met in 1990. But fast forward to 1997, Maxwell attempted to hire her as a ghostwriter for an autobiography. This was after she wrote a book titled "Royal Blue."
"She told me that her motivation for getting that book made was for Jeffrey to see her in a different light," Oxenberg alleged. "It would elevate her status. She actually said, ‘This will elevate me in Jeffrey’s eyes. And this way, he will marry me. I want him to marry me.'"
Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell attend an event in New York City on March 15, 2005. (Joe Schildhorn/Patrick McMullan via Getty Images)
Maxwell, 59, has pleaded not guilty to charges that prosecutors say show that she and Epstein were "partners in crime" in the sexual abuse of teenage girls. The defense has countered by claiming she’s being made a scapegoat for 66-year-old Epstein, who killed himself in his New York City jail cell in 2019 as he awaited his sex trafficking trial.
Maxwell spent the first half of her life with her father Robert Maxwell. But in 1991, the billionaire fell off his yacht – the Lady Ghislaine – in the Canary Islands and died in what some saw as an accident and others a suicide. Investors later discovered his wealth was an illusion: He had diverted hundreds of millions of pounds from his companies’ pension funds to prop up his empire.
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Soon after her father’s death, Maxwell was photographed sitting next to Epstein, an American financier, during a memorial at the Plaza Hotel.
Ghislaine Maxwell, youngest child of media proprietor and fraudster, Robert Maxwell (1923 - 1991), holding a framed photograph of her late father, circa 1991. (Ken Lennox/Mirrorpix/Getty Images)
Maxwell’s brother Ian said his sister’s relationship with Epstein developed after the family advised her to remain in the U.S. because the Maxwell name was "in the dirt" at home. Amid the family’s reputational and financial woes, she had to make her own way in New York and forge new friendships, he said.
One of those was with Epstein, a onetime teacher who built his fortune on the back of contacts like the former CEO of the parent company of lingerie retailer Victoria’s Secret.
"I felt sympathetic toward her," Oxenberg admitted. "I knew she had lost her father. But quite simply, she is very arrogant. She was bombastic. She was full of herself and she was rude."
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Christina Oxenberg said she wrote her book "Trash" to set the record straight about her relationship with Ghislaine Maxwell. (Courtesy of Christina Oxenberg)
Oxenberg alleged that during their meeting in 1997 to discuss the potential autobiography, Maxwell "went into detail" about "getting girls for Jeffrey" to satisfy his sexual appetite.
"She told me he had been diagnosed by doctors as having a sex drive that required him to have three orgasms a day," Oxenberg alleged. "And so, she couldn’t be expected to keep up with this. I’m using her words… I had a really bad feeling about this… Had I known she was talking about children I would have lost my mind and have gone straight to the police… I responded very negatively, but I thought she was talking about consenting adults."
"At this crazy meeting was a woman who was obsessed with a man," Oxenberg continued. "Ghislaine was obsessed with Jeffrey Epstein. Her telling me his biological needs was way too much for me. Nobody needs to hear that stuff. But she’s boasting about how to deal with this problem… But this was from one single meeting. So my feeling was she’s delusional, she’s trying to marry Jeffrey and she’s providing women for him. She’s doing anything to meet his demands… She wanted to be in full control. I just got angry because the whole thing was very outlandish."
Christina Oxenberg (seen her on the left with Ghislaine Maxwell and HRH Prince Dimitri of Yugoslavia) claimed that Maxwell wanted her to serve as a ghostwriter for an autobiography. (Mireya Acierto/Patrick McMullan via Getty Images)
According to court documents, one accuser would make a similar allegation about Epstein, noting "it was biological, like eating."
Oxenberg alleged Maxwell referred to the women as "trash," which left her feeling "disgusted." She also alleged that Maxwell told her she would recruit "three girls a day."
"She was talking about humans as if they were disposable, for the purpose of sex," said Maxwell. "I was just furious. And I was fed up. I did not spot the red flags, but I did react very negatively. The fact that she was speaking about human beings in this horrible way was very offensive to me. But again, I thought she was discussing consensual adults here."
Prosecutors in New York charged Jeffrey Epstein with sex trafficking in 2019, but he killed himself in jail before the trial. (New York State Sex Offender Registry via AP)
In sworn testimony for an earlier civil case, Maxwell acknowledged that she had a romantic relationship with Epstein but said she later became his employee tasked with things like hiring staff for his six homes.
But in 2005, Epstein was arrested in Palm Beach, Florida, and accused of hiring multiple underage girls – many students at a local high school – to perform sex acts. He pleaded guilty to a charge of procuring a person under 18 for prostitution and served 13 months in jail.
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Oxenberg said her last interaction with Maxwell took place in 2013 during her book signing party in New York City.
Christina Oxenberg, Ghislaine Maxwell and HRH Prince Dimitri of Yugoslavia attend Oxenberg's "Life is Short: Read Short Stories" book signing party on April 23, 2013, in New York City. (Mireya Acierto/Patrick McMullan via Getty Images)
"I wasn’t thrilled about [her showing up], but since it was a very busy event, you have to deal with it," said Oxenberg. "She took up more oxygen than necessary."
In an attempt to "get rid of her," Oxenberg told Maxwell she would call her. And she did.
"She invited me over," Oxenberg explained. "I asked that she send her chauffer but she refused. She told me he had gone to bed but it was only 6 p.m. I didn’t need her to send a chauffeur. I was pulling her leg. But her instinct was to lie for a reply. She was always odd. I took a taxi and went for a visit."
Photo from 2001 that was included in court files shows Prince Andrew with his arm around the waist of 17-year-old Virginia Giuffre, who says Jeffrey Epstein paid her to have sex with the prince. Andrew has denied the charges. In the background is Ghislaine Maxwell. (U.S. Second Circuit Court of Appeals)
Oxenberg said she headed to Maxwell’s Manhattan townhouse. It would be the last time the women saw each other.
"I asked her, ‘How are things with you and Jeffrey?’" Oxenberg recalled. "I said that to be provocative, just to see how she took it. Sure enough, she squirmed, looked down and said, ‘Everything’s fine.’ Then she started talking about how she’s volunteering, had a new boyfriend named Ted who’s a billionaire and how she had done a Ted Talk about her marine foundation."
It wouldn’t be until Julie K. Brown’s three-part Miami Herald series in 2018 on Epstein when Oxenberg said she became aware of who Maxwell really was. Oxenberg said she spoke to investigators in April 2019.
Prosecutors said Ghislaine Maxwell went into hiding after Jeffrey Epstein’s suicide, moving into a gated New Hampshire home – with a husband her lawyers have declined to publicly identify – and wrapping her cellphone in foil to ward off hacking. (Mathieu Polak/Sygma/Sygma via Getty Images)
When asked what justice would like for her today, Oxenberg replied, "Whatever satisfies the survivors."
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The indictment against Maxwell is based on accusations from four women who say she recruited them to give Epstein massages that progressed into sexual abuse. One was just 14 at the time. Maxwell sometimes participated in the sexual encounters and was involved in paying at least one accuser, prosecutors allege.
Maxwell said she never saw Epstein getting massages from anyone under 18 and that no one complained to her that Epstein demanded sex. As for her brother, Ian said Maxwell is being railroaded by a U.S. criminal justice system intent on holding someone responsible for Epstein’s crimes.
Audrey Strauss, acting U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York, wears a protective mask while listening during a news conference at the U.S. Attorney's Office in New York, U.S., on Thursday, July 2, 2020. Ghislaine Maxwell, a longtime associate of disgraced money manager Jeffrey Epstein, was arrested and charged with conspiracy and enticing minors to engage in sex. (Michael Nagle/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
Today, Oxenberg hopes her book will set the record straight on her relationship with Maxwell.
"She was far more sinister than just a bit odd," she said.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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