The family of the late theoretical physicist Stephen Hawking has spoken out after a photograph of the scientist alongside two women in bikinis surfaced in the Jeffrey Epstein files released by the Department of Justice.
The Hawking estate identified the two women in the photo as the physicist’s “long-term carers from the UK,” according to a statement provided to the Daily Mail on Wednesday.
A representative for the estate confirmed the photograph was taken at the Ritz-Carlton Hotel on the Caribbean island of St. Thomas in 2006.
Hawking had just delivered a speech on Quantum Cosmology at a science symposium when the photograph was taken, according to his family.
Jeffrey Epstein attended the same event.
The Hawking estate declined to identify who took the photograph or explain how it came to be included in the Epstein files.
The estate also did not respond to questions about the nature of Hawking’s friendship with Epstein or whether it was standard practice for his carers to tend to him in swimsuits while drinking cocktails.
The DOJ redacted the faces of the two women before releasing the image.
The department stated last month that redactions were limited to protecting victims and their families, reported the Daily Mail.
The DOJ noted that notable individuals and politicians were not redacted, and that “some pornographic images, whether commercial or not, were redacted, given the Department treated all women in those images as victims.”
A spokesperson for the Hawking family provided the following statement: “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.”
Hawking, who died in March 2018 at the age of 76, had lived for more than 50 years with ALS, requiring round-the-clock nursing care for the majority of his adult life.
He was one of 21 internationally recognized scientists who attended a conference hosted by Epstein in March 2006, five months before Epstein was first charged with soliciting prostitution.
The conference, titled “The Energy of Empty Space That Isn’t Zero,” was held at the five-star Ritz-Carlton on St. Thomas, where rooms ran $1,600 per night.
The hotel sits in close proximity to Epstein’s private island, Little Saint James.
A post on the Jeffrey Epstein VI Foundation blog described the gathering, stating that guests “could meet, discuss, relax on the beach, and take a trip to the nearby private island retreat of the science philanthropist Jeffrey Epstein, who funded the event.”
Guests divided their time between St. Thomas and Little Saint James, where Epstein personally hosted them.
The Daily Mail highlighted that photographs from 2015 show Hawking in his wheelchair at a barbecue on the island.
Epstein also arranged a submarine tour of the seabed around Little Saint James specifically for Hawking, modifying the vessel to accommodate the physicist, who had never previously been underwater.
