Stephen Hawking relaxing with bikini-clad women. What’s the story behind the image? – Firstpost

The Epstein files saga continues. The latest revelation from the Epstein files shows noted scientist Stephen Hawking relaxing on a sun lounger with two bikini-clad women.

The photo of the late British physicist has circulated online after it was featured in the latest tranche of documents released as part of the United States Department of Justice’s (DoJ) investigation into Jeffrey Epstein.

But what do we know of this image? Who are the women in it? Here’s what we were able to find out.

Stephen Hawking’s and the viral image

An image of Hawking, who died in 2018, from the Epstein files has gone viral on social media. In the photo, the scientist is seen fully clothed on a sun lounger between two women, whose faces are redacted, holding tropical cocktails.

This visual came to light after more than
three million documents from the Jeffrey Epstein case were released by the Department of Justice (DOJ) on January 30. A preliminary search of his name in the digital Epstein files library yields at least 250 results. But what caught everyone’s attention is the image in question.

While key details about the image are still unknown, it is believed that it was taken in 2006 during a symposium at the Ritz-Carlton Hotel, St Thomas, where the British theoretical physicist delivered a talk on quantum cosmology.

Speculation on whether the image is genuine or fake

Soon after the image was released, many speculated if it was real or fake. While some argued that it was generated using artificial intelligence, others pointed to the fact that Hawking has been linked to Epstein, and hence, it is real.

Earlier, the files included emails from the Epstein estate in which Hawking had been accused of “participating in an underage orgy” by 
Virginia Giuffre.

The email, written by Epstein, said: “You can issue a reward to any of Virginia’s friends, acquaintances, or family who come forward and help prove her allegations are false. The strongest is the Clinton dinner, and the new version in the Virgin Islands that Stephen Hawking participated in an underage orgy.”

The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), according to the Epstein files, also received a tip-off that claimed that Epstein and Hawking attended an “all-male gay club” in 2011.

Hawking’s family speaks up

Amid this speculation, Hawking’s family has now spoken up on the image and the women in it. A family representative told the Daily Mail that the two women were the late scientist’s “long-term carers from the UK”. “Any insinuation of inappropriate conduct on his part is wrong and far-fetched in the extreme,” they added.

They further stated that the image was, in fact, taken at the Ritz-Carlton Hotel on the Caribbean Island of St Thomas in 2006.

“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 synthesizer, wheelchair and round-the-clock medical care,” his family told The Post in a statement.

In March 2006, Hawking joined other leading scientists at a conference financed and organised by Epstein, months before the disgraced financier faced prostitution-related charges in Florida.

Renowned for his work on black holes and general relativity, Hawking fundamentally reshaped the field of modern cosmology. The British physicist passed away in 2018, aged 76. He was diagnosed with
Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) at the age of 21 and given only a few years to live. But the man defied all odds and went on to have a decades-long scientific career.

Hawking’s research showed that black holes can emit radiation, now known as Hawking radiation, reshaping modern physics. A professor at the University of Cambridge, he also became a global science icon through his bestselling book A Brief History of Time.

With inputs from agencies