#Ghislaine Maxwell no ‘monster’, didn’t introduce Jeffrey Epstein to Prince Andrew: pal

Jeffrey Epstein’s alleged right-hand woman is not the “cartoon caricature of a villain” portrayed in the media, her pal told the Daily Mail.

Ghislaine Maxwell, who faces charges for allegedly finding and grooming underage girls for the late Epstein, adopted pets in the year after Epstein’s suicide and is heartbroken that her friends have lost jobs due to their mere association with the accused “madam.”

“Ghislaine is no Cruella de Vil,” the friend told the tabloid. “She is being portrayed as this evil character and a cartoon-like villain but she is nothing like that. She is a real person and is determined to prove her innocence despite the fact that she has been characterized as some sort of monster.”

Many victims have accused Maxwell, 58, as acting as Epstein’s sinister fixer in the 1990s, procuring him young girls to sexually abuse and convincing them to travel to his properties across the world.

Friends of the British socialite, who is scheduled to appear in court via videoconferencing Tuesday, have jumped to her defense since her arrest in New Hampshire last week, the Mail reported.

Pals had claimed Maxwell hadn’t seen Epstein in 15 years; that she had adopted a cat and dog after his death last year; and that she wasn’t the one to introduce the billionaire child sex abuser to Prince Andrew, as was widely reported.

The two first met through socialite Lynn Forester de Rothschild, who made the introduction at a birthday party she threw in 1999 for her British billionaire husband, Sir Evelyn de Rothschild, in the Hamptons, the friend told the Mail.

“Ghislaine wasn’t at that party. Lynn introduced Andrew to Epstein,” the friend claimed. “It was all about the money with Andrew and Epstein. Just wait and see. There is a lot more to come out.”

The pal said Maxwell’s romantic relationship with Epstein ended in 2001. They last saw in each other at a party in 2005, when Maxwell had moved on to date Ted Waitt, the billionaire Gateway computer founder.

“The reality is that Ghislaine’s relationship with Epstein ended in 2001,” the friend told the Mail. “Starting in late 2002, early 2003, she was dating Ted and she loved him deeply. Epstein kept trying to woo her back but she wasn’t interested.”

Maxwell has been moved around from cell to cell while being held at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn to protect her from inmate attacks, the friend said. She was also initially issued paper clothes to keep her from harming herself, though she has since been offered traditional prison garb.

The Oxford-educated Maxwell faces a six-count indictment of sex-trafficking minors and lying about the alleged crimes under oath. She faces up to 35 years in prison if convicted.