Lady Victoria Harvey, an ex-girlfriend of Prince Andrew’s, spoke out this week to say that she was “shocked” by the claims that were leveled against Ghislaine Maxwell, who was also a friend of hers.

“Very shocking when I first heard everything,” Harvey said, according to Daily Mail.

Harvey, 44, first met Maxwell and the late billionaire pedophile Jeffrey Epstein twenty years ago, but she says she had no idea at the time what they were doing behind closed doors.

“She was always the centre of every fun party and she was a vibrant character that a lot of people wanted to be around,” Harvey said of Maxwell. “It was very shocking when I first heard everything about her because that was not the Ghislaine I knew.”‘

Harvey went on to say that she believes Maxwell was brainwashed by Epstein.

“I think there’s a lot of people in his position that like to be surrounded by young models – it didn’t look that different to what I’d seen before. I was very young and very naive and didn’t realize what was happening,” she added. “He gave her that stability of what she needed and she gave him what he needed to meet all these powerful people. Everybody knew Ghislaine Maxwell but no one knew him. It was a partnership they had. I think she got in way too deep and just couldn’t leave.”

As for whether she thinks Maxwell was a victim of Epstein’s herself, Harvey said, “she was in a way but she came the assistant of what she wanted. I think she was so brainwashed by him and so in love with him that she lost the reality of what she was doing.”

In another interview, Harvey talked about being invited to a party with Maxwell Bill Clinton, Prince Andrew and Epstein.

“She loved being surrounded by power,” Harvey recalled. “That’s every event with Ghislaine. She loved fame and power. If you weren’t going to be of any use to her, she wasn’t going to pay you any attention. I think that’s quite apparent about her. Bill Clinton was the president at the time and I think she liked to flaunt that she was friends with someone so powerful.”

“It’s going to be really tough for her in jail. If you’re used to luxury, it will be hell on earth for her I’m sure. I think she’s very tough but it’s a front, I don’t think she is as tough on the inside as what she exudes on the outside,” she added. “She always exuded this air of mystery about her, you just never really knew where she’d flown in from and was quite secretive about her life.”

Maxwell has been in prison in New York City for nearly a year now awaiting trial on various sex crime charges alleging that she groomed young girls for Epstein, and sometimes participated in the abuse herself. Her trial is expected to begin next month.