Norway crown princess says 'manipulated' by Epstein

Norway's Crown Princess Mette-Marit said she was "manipulated" by convicted US sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, in an interview broadcast Friday in which she sought to explain their close relationship.

"It is extremely important for me to acknowledge that I did not look into his past more carefully, and also to acknowledge that I was manipulated and deceived to such an extent," Mette-Marit told public broadcaster NRK during the roughly 20-minute interview.

A commoner who married Crown Prince Haakon in 2001, Mette-Marit's name appears in new Epstein documents released by the US Department of Justice earlier this year. The files revealed an unexpectedly close friendship between the pair and raised questions in Norway about whether Mette-Marit can become queen.