TORONTO -- Virginia Giuffre, the woman who claims she was forced to have sex with Prince Andrew when she was a teenager, says she鈥檚 not suicidal and there are 鈥榚vil people鈥� who want to see her silenced.
Just over a week after the broadcast of her highly publicized BBC interview about her alleged involvement with the prince and convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, Giuffre shared Tuesday night.
She wrote that 鈥渋n no way, shape or form am I sucidal [sic]鈥� and that she has made this known to her therapist and doctor.
The mother of three then went on to make an alarming plea to her followers.
鈥淚f something happens to me - in the sake of my family do not let this go away and help me to protect them. Too many evil people want to see me quiteted [sic],鈥� she said.
Giuffre鈥檚 message was posted as a response to another user鈥檚 comment on one of her earlier tweets that said 鈥淔.B.I. will kill her to protect the ultra rich and well connected.鈥�
On Wednesday, Giuffre appeared to substantiate her claim with a follow-up tweet, in which she thanked her supporters and shared that she had been in contact with the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
鈥淚 have been informed from the F.B.I there has been a credible death threat against me,鈥� she wrote.
The 35-year-old American woman, who was previously known as Virginia Roberts, has been at the centre of the sex scandal dogging Prince Andrew after she repeatedly accused him of having sex with her when she was only 17. She said she was trafficked as a teenager by Jeffrey Epstein and his close friend Ghislaine Maxwell.
Epstein was found dead in his New York jail cell in August, while awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges. His death has been ruled a suicide. For her part, Maxwell has denied all of the allegations against her.
The attention surrounding the case has been intensified in recent weeks after Prince Andrew gave an interview with BBC Newsnight in which he denied having sex with Giuffre and said he couldn鈥檛 recall ever meeting her or having his photo taken with her in 2001.
The fallout from that interview led the 59-year-old prince to declare that he was stepping back from public duties. He also apologized for his 鈥� and said he deeply sympathized with the victims.
Days later, Giuffre pleaded with the U.K. public to believe her in an episode of BBC Panorama, which was filmed before Prince Andrew鈥檚 interview, but aired on Dec. 2.
鈥淚 implore the people in the U.K. to stand up beside me, to help me fight this fight, to not accept this as being OK,鈥� she said. 鈥淭his is not some sordid sex story. This is a story of being trafficked. This is a story of abuse and this is a story of your guys鈥� royalty.鈥�
None of the allegations against Prince Andrew have been tested in court.
With files from The Associated Press
