STOCKHOLM — Norwegian Crown Princess Mette-Marit said she regrets ever meeting convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, breaking her silence in a television interview that aired on Friday.
Close to tears and speaking with a trembling voice, she told public broadcaster NRK: “I wish I had never met him.”
She said she felt “manipulated and deceived” by Epstein.
“When you are being manipulated, you don’t understand it from the beginning,” she said.
Mette-Marit acknowledged that she maintained close contact with Epstein between 2011 and 2014, including after the wealthy U.S. financier had already been convicted of soliciting a minor for prostitution.
“I did not know that he was a sex offender,” she said, adding that Epstein had taken advantage of her trusting nature. “I tend to see the best in people.”
She said the two met through mutual acquaintances and exchanged emails and arranged meetings, discussing a range of personal matters.
At the time, Mette-Marit said she travelled frequently to the United States for her work with an international aid project.
Epstein ran an extensive sexual abuse network involving numerous victims. He died in custody in 2019 before facing further trial.
Regret and criticism
The crown princess said she eventually grew uncomfortable with Epstein, particularly during a 2013 visit with an acquaintance to his home in Palm Beach, Florida, and ended contact in 2014.
She said she regrets not warning others about him sooner.
“I still knew nothing about all the assaults. But it was clear to me that he was a nasty guy you shouldn’t have anything to do with,” said Mette-Marit.
The crown princess told NRK that she never witnessed anything illegal, noting that “everyone I met with Epstein was an adult.”
Her ties to Epstein have drawn significant criticism in Norway, particularly after her name appeared hundreds of times in documents related to the case released earlier this year by the U.S. Justice Department.
The tone of some of her past emails — which included personal and at times flirtatious language — also fuelled speculation about whether the two might have had more than just friendship.
When asked by an NRK reporter how she would describe her relationship with Epstein, Mette-Marit emphasized: “We had a friendly relationship.”
Until Friday, the crown princess had previously addressed the issue only in writing, prompting further criticism that she had not spoken out sooner.
The royal household had cited Mette-Marit’s health as a reason for her earlier silence.
The 52-year-old suffers from pulmonary fibrosis, an incurable lung disease that causes scarring of lung tissue and can lead to breathing difficulties.
“It now dictates my daily life,” Mette-Marit said of the illness. “It determines whether I am able to carry out my role at all.”
Her condition has recently worsened, and the royal household said in December that she will eventually require a lung transplant.
Son on trial for rape
The crown princess also referred to the strain of a legal case involving her eldest son, Marius Borg Høiby, 29, whose rape trial concluded on Thursday.
Høiby is the son of Mette-Marit, but he is not a member of Norway’s royal house. He was a young child when his mother married Crown Prince Haakon in 2001.
“I am the mother of a young man who has been in a very difficult situation,” she told NRK. “In addition, my health condition means that I need a great deal of rest — and that condition has worsened somewhat.”
Support from husband
The interview was conducted jointly with her husband, the crown prince.
“When you marry, you do so for better and for worse,” the heir to the Norwegian throne said, adding that supporting his wife was a given.
Haakon also praised his wife as “caring, intelligent and truly strong.”