Katherine Haywood talks about ‘Who is Ghislaine Maxwell?’

Who is Ghislaine Maxwell?, an upcoming docuseries on Lionsgate Play, follows the life of the daughter of one of the biggest media tycoons, Robert Maxwell. The crime documentary dives deep into the life of the famous former British socialite, Ghislaine Maxwell, and uncovers how she ended up helping American financier and sex offender Jeffrey Epstein abuse and sexually exploit underage girls.
Directed by BAFTA-nominated documentary director and producer Erica Gornall and produced by award-winning producer-director and investigative journalist Katherine Haywood, ‘Who is Ghislaine Maxwell?’ is a bold and contemporary three-episode series set to release on Lionsgate Play on July 8th, 2022.

Katherine Haywood, producer, while talking about what particularly interested in exploring the series and why she thought this was in the public interest, said, “I think the first thing we wanted to do was document her whole life, so it was biographical. One thing I was really interested in is delving deep into the part of her life before Epstein to see if there were traits that would suggest that she would go on to do this whether Epstein was around or not. And this is part of the thing where everyone always frames her in relation to him. Obviously, he is so interesting and horrifying that you do gravitate towards that story, but I had to keep pushing him away and focus on Ghislaine's life before him, so he wasn't intruding at all. We found some amazing stuff that suggests to me that it wasn't all about him.

Katherine further added, “She had these traits that meant within herself she had her own drive to do the things that she's now been found guilty of. Speaking to women who went to parties with her and to people in her school days, it's fascinating to see those parts of her personality. The dominant narrative is that she was charming and wonderful and privileged and lovely, then she met Epstein, and it went downhill. But actually, we show that things were not quite right before she met Epstein.”

Watch ‘Who is Ghislaine Maxwell?’ premiering on the 8th of July exclusively on Lionsgate Play