Industry star Marisa Abela has revealed that her character’s story is “loosely inspired” by convicted child sex trafficker Ghislaine Maxwell.
In the BBC financial drama, Abela stars as Yasmin Kara-Hanani – the heiress to a publishing empire founded by her wealthy father Charles Hanani (played by Adam Levy). In series three, Charles’ body is found in the Mediterranean Sea after he seemingly fell from his yacht, named after his daughter.
Now, Bafta winner Abela has confirmed that Yasmin’s story was partly based on that of Maxwell, whose father Robert Maxwell died in 1991 after falling from his luxury yacht, the Lady Ghislaine.
In Industry’s latest series, Yasmin – whose husband Henry (Kit Harington) is CEO of fintech startup Tender – discovers that co-founder Whitney (Max Minghella) hired executive assistant Hayley (Kiernan Shipka) from an escort agency, using her to sleep with and blackmail powerful people.
When asked by Vulture whether she saw the comparison between Whitney and Yasmin with convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein and Maxwell, Abela said: “The fact that Yasmin’s father was a publishing tycoon and died on a boast called the Lady Yasmin, all of these things are [part of it].”
She added that Yasmin is a young woman who has “never been able to get a foothold on the feeling of safety or power” but now has “intense proximity to power”.
As for whether Abela read up on Maxwell ahead of the new series, she said that she wanted to keep Yasmin and the Epstein accomplice separate. “It felt loosely inspired by something that is so prevalent in the media,” she added.
“Things were unfolding with the files even as we were filming, but especially now, the whole topic is horrifying and disgusting and very real [so] that I’m very glad I didn’t draw too close a parallel.”
Maxwell was sentenced to 20 years in prison in 2022 for child sex trafficking offences related to her involvement with Epstein.
Epstein, who died in prison by suicide aged 66 three years earlier, was accused of running a “vast network” of underage girls for sex before his death.
Over three million files released by the US Department of Justice this month (February) revealed the extent of his vast network of high profile figures – with Epstein being invited by Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor to Buckingham Palace and sending thousands to Lord Peter Mandelson for his husband’s osteopathy course.
Mandelson admitted to a “lapse in judgment” over receiving the funding. He said: “In retrospect, it was clearly a lapse in our collective judgment for Reinaldo to accept this offer. At the time it was not a consequential decision.”
