The crown princess of Norway breaks her silence, claiming that Epstein "manipulated and deceived" her.

The crown princess described phoning her husband after an "uneasy" incident during her stay at Epstein's Florida home (Image: NRK)

 Mette-Marit, Crown Princess of Norway, broke her silence for seven weeks after the extent of her interactions with the late US sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. She said on Norwegian national television that she wished she had never met him. In a 20-minute interview in which she was frequently on the verge of crying, Mette-Marit stated, "I feel so manipulated, and when you are manipulated, you don't realise it from the start." Norwegians learned seven weeks ago that the crown princess had stayed at the disgraced Epstein's Florida home when he was not there and had exchanged hundreds of emails with him between 2011 and 2014. "It is incredibly important for me to take responsibility for not checking his background more carefully," she said.

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"And to accept responsibility for being so deceived and manipulated as I was." After the close nature of her connections to Epstein was revealed when millions of Epstein files were released by the US justice department at the end of January, she has already expressed her regret and acknowledged having "poor judgment." The princess stated to public broadcaster NRK, "Of course I wish I had never met him," emphasizing that Epstein's victims deserved punishment for the severe abuse they had endured. She said she was extremely enraged that they hadn't received it yet. She is under intense scrutiny and pressure to provide an explanation, including from Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Stre, for her decision to speak out in public. The crown princess gave little away during the conversation, and some of her responses come across as defensive.

 She wrote in 2011: "Googled u after last email," three years after Epstein had been sentenced for soliciting sex with minors. Agree didn't look too good."

 Sitting alongside her husband, Crown Prince Haakon, during the interview, Mette-Marit maintained she "didn't know he was a sex offender or a predator", even though the reporter pointed out that a Wikipedia article on Epstein at the time had made clear he was a convicted abuser.

 "This was 15 years ago; I can't remember it."

She admitted to being too trusting of Epstein, but when asked why neither the palace nor the foreign ministry knew about her links to him, she said he was a "private contact" and she did not tell everyone about her private contacts.

 When asked why she spent several days in Epstein's Palm Beach home in 2013, she said it was because of an unknown acquaintance. She stated, "Epstein was a close friend of a good friend of mine." On the final day of her stay at the house, she mentioned a "situation" that made her feel uneasy, but she refused to go any further than to say that she had called her husband about it. Crown Prince Haakon tells the interviewer that he clearly remembers the phone call from Mette-Marit and how it made his wife feel "unsafe." The crown princess continued to communicate with Epstein after the incident for some time. "I am overly trusting, I tend to think the best of people," she said.  "However, I also decided to stop all contact with him." And it was as a result of incidents like that."

The interview was recorded on Thursday, the last day of her son Marius Borg Hiby's rape trial, which started at the beginning of February, just days after the Epstein files involving Mette-Marit were released. Although a verdict is not expected until June, it is evident that she waited until the trial was over before speaking in public. She was also asked if she was motivated to keep her position as king. She has been in poor health, and the recent Epstein revelations have made many Norwegians question whether she will still be able to become queen when Crown Prince Haakon takes over. The 52-year-old crown princess, who has pulmonary fibrosis, made it clear that everything depended on her health. She stated, "I live with a serious illness." "That is the very thing that determines whether or not I actually have the ability to continue performing in the role that I hold." Considering my health, "I would very much like to stand by him in that project, if I have the opportunity to do so." The interviewer was informed by her husband that even after more than 25 years of marriage, they continued to stand by one another. "This is after all our project, which we're doing together."

Source: BBC