Ghislaine Maxwell and her father would 'converse by meowing', according to former employee

A new Ghislaine Maxwell documentary has raised a few eyebrows after a former employee revealed details of her bizarre relationship with father Robert Maxwell.

BBC's House of Maxwell explored how the now-60-year-old went from the daughter of one of the UK's wealthiest tycoons to helping her ex-boyfriend Jeffrey Epstein sexually abuse underage girls.

But, there was one particular moment that had viewers squirming.

In the first episode of the three-part documentary, the sex trafficker was revealed to be relatively close with her father, a former newspaper owner, MP and fraudster. Many former employees suggested that Ghislaine was his favourite out of nine children.

Carol Bragoli, ex former Mirror Group secretary, made an appearance on the show where she opened up about the pair's strange behaviour.

She recalled overhearing an awkward conversation between Ghislaine and her father, in which they "meowed" for several minutes before using actual words.

"He was at his desk and my back was turned the whole time and I heard everything, all the phone calls, he had many phone calls," she said.

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"One day reception rang through and said 'It's Ghislaine' and he says 'Put her on' and the next thing I heard was 'meow', and he went 'meow, meow' and she went 'meow'."

Bragoli said the bizarre interaction "went on for about ten meows", before the pair started their conversation. The former secretary also claimed Robert "definitely had a different relationship with Ghislaine than he had with the others", with Ghislaine often seen "flitting around" his office.

Inevitably, viewers of the documentary were mortified and turned to social media cringing.

"Meeow... really I mean that is not natural behaviour," one said, while another was scarred by the revelation, saying: "Can't get the 'miaowing' phone calls between father & daughter out of my head."

Some people familiar with Maxwell's background have spoken about Robert's influence on his daughter.

"What do you do if you've lived in the shadow of a very strong, very selfish character, a very demanding character who turns out to be a rogue?" her father's former spokesperson Andy McSmith said.

"I don't know what do you do, but maybe you find solace in another very strong, selfish character."

House of Maxwell continues on Monday 11 April at 9pm on BBC Two.

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