Norway’s Crown Princess Mette-Marit says she was “manipulated and deceived” by convicted s-x offender Jeffrey Epstein. She broke years of silence over the relationship in a televised interview this week.
She spoke to Norwegian broadcaster NRK and made it clear that she regretted ever meeting Epstein, reports ABC News. She said she fully accepted responsibility for not examining his background more closely. “It is extremely important for me to acknowledge that I did not look into his past more carefully,” she shared.
Mette-Marit said that Epstein wasn’t honest with her. “I was manipulated and deceived to such an extent,” she said. “Of course, I wish I had never met him.”
“I was manipulated and deceived,” Norway’s Crown Princess Mette-Marit said in a tearful interview with public broadcaster NRK screened on Friday morning. https://t.co/UtbloQy3Wd pic.twitter.com/TeJuedgba5
— CNN International (@cnni) March 20, 2026
The princess decided to do an interview after the release of the Epstein files earlier this year. Since then, she received plenty of backlash as emails showed that they shared a warm and ongoing relationship.
Interestingly, their relationship stretched between 2011 and 2014. This is years after his initial 2009 conviction for child s-x offences. She insisted that they were only friends, saying, “It was a friendly relationship: above all, he was a friend to me,” she said, adding there was “no other nature to their connection.”
According to her, Epstein “used the fact that we had a mutual friend, and that I’m gullible” to get close to her. Mette-Marit said that she was overly trusting.
However, in some of the emails, they used affectionate language, reported NRK. She even called him “sweetheart” in the missives. In another, she wrote, “You always make me smile … because you tickle my brain.” However, she was now embarrassed about her relationship with him.
Mette-Marit admitted that she paid Epstein a visit in his Florida home in 2013. She called that experience troubling. “The fact that I have been there… is very difficult for me personally,” she said during the interview.
The future queen also said, “I’ve never seen anything illegal.” Yet, it was after the trip to his Palm Beach home that she decided to end contact with him because she felt uneasy. Even though she decided to draw back from him, the communication continued for some time until 2014.
„Why has it been 7 weeks?“
„The family has been in a very demanding situation. I am the mother of a young man who has been in a demanding situation. In addition, my health requires a rest. I has developed more, so I need a lot of rest time.“
🎥 NRKpic.twitter.com/H63ZkckLgY
— ChristinZ (@ChristinsQueens) March 20, 2026
She emphasized, “I did not know he was a s-x offender or an abuser.” But it was only afterward, that she learned that “this was a bad person.” She added that she liked to “believe the best about people.”
Mette-Marit insisted that she did not consider herself a victim. Even though she was manipulated and deceived, it did not amount to anything criminal. She pointed to Epstein’s abuse survivors instead. “It’s all the victims… who deserve justice,” the princess said.
The interview comes as she is still in line to become queen. But with political and public pressure increasing, she had to explain the extent of her ties with the offender. She underscored that she also had a role to play in this debacle. “It is incredibly important for me to take responsibility,” she said.
Despite all this, there is still one person who is firmly in her corner. Her husband, Haakon, Crown Prince of Norway, described her with these words, “Mette is caring, wise, and really strong.”
