An eye-catching photo of Stephen Hawking sandwiched between two bikini-clad women has resurfaced online following the release of the latest Jeffrey Epstein files — thrusting the late scientist’s ties to the convicted pedophile back into the spotlight.
The British theoretical physicist, who is referenced at least 250 times in the Justice Department’s cache of Epstein files, could be seen smiling and clutching a red cocktail between the two unidentified women.
But the snap has a simple explanation, according to Hawking’s family, who claimed the women he was posing with were the regular caretakers employed to help provide 24-hour care for him amid his battle with early-onset ALS.
Stephen Hawking with unknown women in bikinis. DOJThe photo is believed to have been taken back in 2006 on the Caribbean island of St. Thomas — near Epstein’s notorious private island.
“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,” his family told The Post in a statement.
“Any insinuation of inappropriate conduct on his part is wrong and far-fetched in the extreme.”
Hawking, who died in 2018 at age 76 after battling early-onset ALS for 50 years, has long been tied to the late disgraced pedophile.
The physicist was among a group of world-renowned scientists who attended a conference funded and hosted by Epstein in March 2006 — five months before the disgraced financier was charged with soliciting prostitution in Florida.
The conference was held on the Caribbean island of St. Thomas, near Epstein’s notorious private island.
Hawking in a 2006 photo.
Hawking aboard a submarine in an undated photo.
Hawking was name-checked in the Epstein files too after prominent accuser Virginia Giuffre alleged that the scientist had once participated “in a underage orgy” in the Virgin Islands.
Epstein, for his part, had offered a cash reward to Giuffre’s friends if they could help debunk her claim, according to emails contained in the files.
“You can issue a reward to any of virginias friends acquaionts family [sic] that come forward and help prove her allegations are false,” Epstein wrote in a typo-ridden email to his madam, Ghislaine Maxwell, on Jan. 12, 2015.
“The strongest is the clinton dinner, and the new version in the virgin isalnds that stven hawking partica-ted [sic] in an underage orgy.”
Hawking has never been formally accused of any wrongdoing and his death was before Epstein was arrested in 2019 on serious charges, thrusting the focus back on his depraved behavior.
