Stephen Hawking: stephen hawking pictured in Epstein files with bikini-clad women sipping cocktails
stephen hawking is pictured in documents with bikini-clad women reclining and sipping cocktails, in a photograph that has been revealed among files linked to Jeffrey Epstein. Young women joined Epstein science event attended by Stephen Hawking, material in the files shows.
Stephen Hawking at Ritz Carlton
The photograph shows the late scientist relaxing on a sun lounger beside bikini-clad women. In the undated image he is seen reclining with a cocktail placed in his hand, the drink steadied by one of the two women. It is understood the two women were his long-term UK carers, since he needed round-the-clock care.
Photograph details and timeline
Documents released by the US Department of Justice, in the course of its investigation into sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, include the photograph. The picture was taken in 2006 during a science symposium at the Ritz Carlton Hotel, St Thomas, in the US Virgin Islands, where Professor Hawking gave a speech on quantum cosmology. Prof Hawking’s name appears hundreds times in the Epstein files, although simply being identified in the documents does not indicate any wrongdoing.
Caregivers and the drink
The files and images place Prof Hawking with two women who steady his cocktail; the context in the material indicates they were his long-term UK carers because he required round-the-clock medical care. Professor Hawking had lived with motor neurone disease for more than 55 years, relied on a ventilator, voice synthesiser and wheelchair, and died in 2018, aged 76.
Visits to Little Saint James
Prof Hawking was among 21 scientists who visited St Thomas and Epstein’s 75-acre private island, Little Saint James, for a science event. He has previously been seen in photographs taken on Epstein’s Caribbean island, though no pictures of him and the convicted paedophile together are known to exist. A photograph released in 2015 showed Prof Hawking in his wheelchair at an outdoor dinner on Little Saint James with several other people. Another picture shows the cosmologist in a submarine, having a tour of the island’s seabed; Epstein had reportedly modified the underwater vessel to allow Prof Hawking to get into it.
Claims, court documents and foundation notes
The Jeffrey Epstein VI Foundation says that in 2012 guests met to “discuss, relax on the beach, and take a trip to the nearby private island retreat” during the event “to determine what the consensus is, if any, for defining gravity”. Two years ago, court documents revealed that Epstein told his accomplice Ghislaine Maxwell she could offer a financial reward to friends of his accuser Virginia Giuffre if they could “help prove” an apparent allegation Hawking had engaged in an “underage orgy” was false.
Family response and scientific legacy
A spokesperson for the Hawking family said: “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, a debilitating condition which left him reliant on a ventilator, voice synthesiser, wheelchair and round-the-clock medical care. Any insinuation of inappropriate conduct on his part is wrong and far-fetched in the extreme. ” The files additionally note that the cosmologist’s pioneering work on black holes and general relativity revolutionised modern cosmology.
In the material, prof hawking appears in multiple images and references but inclusion in the documents is not presented as evidence of wrongdoing; several images date from 2006 and 2015 and the files also record visits and events on St Thomas and Little Saint James.
Closing: Photographs and court records in the released files place Prof Hawking at a 2006 symposium, show him at events on Epstein’s properties and include references and images that the family has publicly rebutted.
