Friend: G-Max not a Cruella

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, facing 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.”

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

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

They 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.”

Maxwell faces up to 35 years in prison if convicted on sex trafficking and other charges.