'Bikini-clad women are carers': Stephen Hawking's family defends questionable picture
What's the story
A recently released batch of documents related to Jeffrey Epstein has brought a questionable photograph of the late British astrophysicist Stephen Hawking to light. The image shows Hawking smiling between two bikini-clad women, holding a red cocktail. The photo, the family said, was taken at the Ritz-Carlton Hotel on St. Thomas, near Epstein's notorious private island, in 2006. The family said that the photo was taken after he delivered a speech on Quantum Cosmology at a science symposium.
Family statement
Family defends late physicist
Hawking's family defended the late physicist, who died in 2018 after a long battle with early-onset ALS. They said the women in the photo were his long-term caregivers. "Any insinuation of inappropriate conduct on his part is wrong and far-fetched in the extreme," a representative told Daily Mail. "Professor Hawking made some of the greatest contributions to physics in the 20th century while at the same time being the longest-known survivor of motor neurone disease," his family told NYP.
Epstein connection
Hawking attended Epstein-funded conference in 2006
Hawking was one of 21 world-renowned scientists who attended the Epstein-funded conference in March 2006. This was five months before Epstein faced charges for soliciting prostitution in Florida. According to The Times, correspondence from the Epstein estate previously released by the DOJ contained unsubstantiated claims by the late Virginia Giuffre that Hawking had been accused of "participating in an underage orgy."
Legacy defense
Epstein offered cash reward to prove allegations were false
In response to Giuffre's allegations, Epstein had offered a cash reward for proof that they were false. He wrote in a 2015 email to Ghislaine Maxwell, "You can issue a reward to any of virginias friends acquaionts family [sic] that come forward and help prove her allegations are false." A preliminary search of his name in the digital Epstein files repository reveals at least 250 matches, but Hawking was never formally accused of any wrongdoing.