Norway's Crown Princess Mette-Marit Breaks Silence on Epstein Ties, Says She Was Manipulated and Deceived

Norway's Crown Princess Mette-Marit sat down on Friday with public broadcaster NRK for a 20-minute televised interview that the country had been waiting seven weeks to see. Seated beside her husband, Crown Prince Haakon, at the royal residence of Skaugum near Oslo, the 52-year-old princess addressed for the first time the full extent of her relationship with convicted American sex offender Jeffrey Epstein .

The interview came after months of mounting pressure. In late January, the US Department of Justice released millions of pages of Epstein-related documents, and Mette-Marit's name appeared repeatedly throughout them . The files revealed an unexpectedly close friendship — hundreds of emails exchanged between 2011 and 2014, a four-day stay at Epstein's Palm Beach mansion in 2013, and a correspondence whose tone Norwegians found difficult to square with a strictly professional relationship Norway's crown princess speaks out on ties to Jeffrey Epsteincbsnews.com·SecondaryNorway's crown princess said she felt unsafe during a 2013 encounter with the late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein at his Palm Beach, Florida, mansion and that he manipulated and deceived her. Mette-Marit, who is married to Crown Prince Haakon, sat down with Norwegian broadcaster NRK for a 20-minute interview on Thursday. It didn't contain explosive revelations but marked the first time the royal couple sat down with reporters to address the fallout over the crown princess' ties to Epstein..

'I Was Manipulated and Deceived'

Mette-Marit told NRK that she wished she had never met Epstein and took responsibility for not investigating his background more carefully . With tears welling in her eyes, she described feeling manipulated by the financier, who pleaded guilty in 2008 to soliciting a minor for prostitution and died in a New York jail cell in 2019 while awaiting trial on federal sex trafficking charges .

She characterized the relationship as purely a friendship and denied any romantic or sexual dimension. When asked directly whether the relationship had another nature, she replied that it did not — he was a friend, nothing more . She acknowledged finding her now-published correspondence embarrassing and said she ended the friendship after several undisclosed incidents that left her feeling unsafe Norway's crown princess breaks silence on Epstein links: 'I was manipulated and deceived'bbc.com·SecondaryNorway's Crown Princess Mette-Marit has told national TV that she wishes she had never met late US sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, breaking seven weeks of silence after the extent of her contacts with him emerged. "I feel so manipulated, and when you are manipulated, you don't realise it from the start," Mette-Marit said in a 20-minute interview in which she was often on the verge of tears..

Crown Prince Haakon, who remained at her side throughout the interview, confirmed that his wife had called him during her 2013 visit to Epstein's Florida property after an incident that left her feeling uneasy . He described his wife as caring, wise, and strong, and said he wanted her by his side through difficult times Norway's crown princess breaks silence on Epstein links: 'I was manipulated and deceived'bbc.com·SecondaryNorway's Crown Princess Mette-Marit has told national TV that she wishes she had never met late US sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, breaking seven weeks of silence after the extent of her contacts with him emerged. "I feel so manipulated, and when you are manipulated, you don't realise it from the start," Mette-Marit said in a 20-minute interview in which she was often on the verge of tears..

The Google Search That Raised Questions

One of the most scrutinized pieces of evidence is a 2011 email in which Mette-Marit wrote to Epstein that she had searched for him online, adding that the results did not look good — punctuated by a smiley emoji . This was three years after Epstein had served a prison sentence for his 2008 conviction. Critics have asked how the princess could claim ignorance of his criminal past when a basic internet search would have revealed it.

Mette-Marit told NRK she could not remember that specific email. The BBC reported that the interviewer pointed out a Wikipedia article on Epstein at the time had clearly described him as a convicted abuser Norway’s crown princess says she was ‘deceived’ by Jeffrey Epsteintheguardian.com·SecondaryMette-Marit says she ‘did not know he was a sex offender’, despite Googling him three years after his prison sentence Norway’s crown princess, Mette-Marit, has said she was “manipulated and deceived” by Jeffrey Epstein as she spoke publicly for the first time about her years-long relationship with the late sex offender.. Her response — that it was 15 years ago and she could not recall — left some commentators unsatisfied.

Other email exchanges further fueled public unease. In 2012, when Epstein told Mette-Marit he was in Paris on a wife hunt, she responded that the French capital was good for adultery and that Scandinavians made better wife material . She described the tone as friendly banter and said the emails were about camaraderie, though she conceded the published correspondence was embarrassing Norway's crown princess speaks out on ties to Jeffrey Epsteincbsnews.com·SecondaryNorway's crown princess said she felt unsafe during a 2013 encounter with the late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein at his Palm Beach, Florida, mansion and that he manipulated and deceived her. Mette-Marit, who is married to Crown Prince Haakon, sat down with Norwegian broadcaster NRK for a 20-minute interview on Thursday. It didn't contain explosive revelations but marked the first time the royal couple sat down with reporters to address the fallout over the crown princess' ties to Epstein..

A Monarchy Under Strain

The fallout from the Epstein revelations has arrived at a particularly difficult moment for the Norwegian royal family. Recent polls indicate that a majority of Norwegians now oppose Mette-Marit becoming queen — a significant shift in public opinion for a country where the monarchy has traditionally enjoyed broad support Norway's crown princess breaks silence on Epstein links: 'I was manipulated and deceived'bbc.com·SecondaryNorway's Crown Princess Mette-Marit has told national TV that she wishes she had never met late US sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, breaking seven weeks of silence after the extent of her contacts with him emerged. "I feel so manipulated, and when you are manipulated, you don't realise it from the start," Mette-Marit said in a 20-minute interview in which she was often on the verge of tears..

The timing compounds an already fraught situation. Just one day before the NRK interview aired, the criminal trial of Mette-Marit's eldest son, Marius Borg Hoiby, concluded in an Oslo courtroom. The 29-year-old, born from a relationship before the princess's 2001 marriage to Crown Prince Haakon, faces charges including four counts of rape and assault against former girlfriends — allegations he denies. Prosecutors have requested a sentence of seven years and seven months in prison, with a verdict expected in early June .

Mette-Marit also suffers from an incurable lung disease, pulmonary fibrosis, that makes breathing difficult and will likely require a risky lung transplant in the future Norway's crown princess breaks silence on Epstein links: 'I was manipulated and deceived'bbc.com·SecondaryNorway's Crown Princess Mette-Marit has told national TV that she wishes she had never met late US sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, breaking seven weeks of silence after the extent of her contacts with him emerged. "I feel so manipulated, and when you are manipulated, you don't realise it from the start," Mette-Marit said in a 20-minute interview in which she was often on the verge of tears.. She cited her son's legal troubles and her health as reasons for the seven-week delay in speaking publicly about the Epstein connection.

Critics Find the Interview Insufficient

Not everyone found the princess's explanations convincing. Harald Stanghelle, a prominent royal commentator for the newspaper Aftenposten, told NRK after the broadcast that she had not concretely answered some of the most difficult questions — particularly regarding what exactly her Google searches had revealed in 2011 and why the friendship continued for years afterward Norway's crown princess breaks silence on Epstein links: 'I was manipulated and deceived'bbc.com·SecondaryNorway's Crown Princess Mette-Marit has told national TV that she wishes she had never met late US sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, breaking seven weeks of silence after the extent of her contacts with him emerged. "I feel so manipulated, and when you are manipulated, you don't realise it from the start," Mette-Marit said in a 20-minute interview in which she was often on the verge of tears..

The interview has been compared by some commentators to what one columnist called a second car crash interview in the broader Epstein story — a reference to the widely criticized 2019 BBC interview with Britain's Prince Andrew about his own Epstein ties. Both royals struggled to explain the nature of their respective relationships with Epstein to skeptical audiences.

Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Store expressed satisfaction that the princess had taken responsibility for not checking Epstein's background more thoroughly, though his measured response stopped short of a full endorsement Norway's crown princess speaks out on ties to Jeffrey Epsteincbsnews.com·SecondaryNorway's crown princess said she felt unsafe during a 2013 encounter with the late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein at his Palm Beach, Florida, mansion and that he manipulated and deceived her. Mette-Marit, who is married to Crown Prince Haakon, sat down with Norwegian broadcaster NRK for a 20-minute interview on Thursday. It didn't contain explosive revelations but marked the first time the royal couple sat down with reporters to address the fallout over the crown princess' ties to Epstein..

What Comes Next for the Norwegian Monarchy

Mette-Marit told NRK she had faith in the monarchy's future role in Norway and in her husband Haakon, and that she wanted to stand by his side — adding, after a pause, the qualification that this would depend on her health Norway's crown princess breaks silence on Epstein links: 'I was manipulated and deceived'bbc.com·SecondaryNorway's Crown Princess Mette-Marit has told national TV that she wishes she had never met late US sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, breaking seven weeks of silence after the extent of her contacts with him emerged. "I feel so manipulated, and when you are manipulated, you don't realise it from the start," Mette-Marit said in a 20-minute interview in which she was often on the verge of tears.. The conditional nature of that statement did not go unnoticed by observers.

The crown princess remains the subject of ongoing public debate in Norway over whether the monarchy itself can withstand the combined weight of the Epstein scandal, her son's criminal proceedings, and her health challenges. King Harald V, now 89, has faced his own health struggles in recent years, making questions about the succession more than theoretical.

For now, the royal household has returned to a period of waiting — for the verdict in the Borg Hoiby trial, for the public's judgment on whether Friday's interview was sufficient, and for whatever the next release of Epstein-related documents may reveal. The princess said in the interview that she had come to understand Epstein was a bad person who used extortion against others, and that she felt great anger that his victims had not yet received justice Norway's crown princess speaks out on ties to Jeffrey Epsteincbsnews.com·SecondaryNorway's crown princess said she felt unsafe during a 2013 encounter with the late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein at his Palm Beach, Florida, mansion and that he manipulated and deceived her. Mette-Marit, who is married to Crown Prince Haakon, sat down with Norwegian broadcaster NRK for a 20-minute interview on Thursday. It didn't contain explosive revelations but marked the first time the royal couple sat down with reporters to address the fallout over the crown princess' ties to Epstein..

Whether that acknowledgment will be enough to preserve her path to the throne remains the central question facing Norway's oldest institution.