Ghislaine Noelle Marion Maxwell was born in 1961 in Maisons-Laffitte, Île-de-France, France. She was born two days before a car accident that left her 15-year-old brother Michael in a prolonged coma until his death in 1967. She attended Balliol College, Oxford, in the 1980s and became a prominent member of London's social scene. She is a naturalised American citizen and retains both French and British citizenship. In 2021, she was found guilty of child sex trafficking and other offences in connection with the deceased financier Jeffrey Epstein.