Stephen Hawking’s estate has spoken out about a photograph that’s been made public of him alongside two bikini-clad women.
At the end of January, the Department of Justice released roughly 3,000,000 pages of documents connected to Jeffrey Epstein, with a wide range of well-known figures referenced throughout.
Names cited in the files reportedly include celebrities and public figures such as Whoopi Goldberg and Elon Musk, as well as Zayn Malik and Emma Thompson.
Stephen Hawking is also mentioned in the newly released material. The renowned physicist died in 2018 after complications related to amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), aged 76.
Reports claim Hawking’s name appears around 250 times in the documents, alongside a number of photographs.
One image shows the late academic posing with two women in bikinis who are holding brightly coloured cocktails.
When the photo first circulated, it was not immediately clear where or when it had been taken. However, Hawking had previously attended a conference organised by Epstein in 2006, before Epstein later faced charges for soliciting prostitution from a minor.
After the photograph became public, Hawking’s family issued a statement and said they had identified the two women pictured alongside him.
They told The Mirror: “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 statement further indicated that the two women are believed to have been among Hawking’s long-term carers.
The Mirror reports the image was taken at the Ritz Carlton Hotel in the US Virgin Islands in 2006.
More to follow.