Sarah Ferguson has finally opened up about her email messages with Jeffrey Epstein, the now-deceased billionaire and convicted sex offender. For years, these communications have been a topic of hushed whispers and public interest.
Reports in the UK recently brought to light an email Ferguson, 65, sent to Epstein back in 2011. Her spokesperson quickly released a statement to the Daily Mail on Sunday, September 21. They explained the email was sent to fight off "an aggressive threat" from Epstein. He had threatened to sue her for defamation.
A separate statement given to the BBC offered more details. The spokesperson said the Duchess of York felt bad about her past connection with Epstein. She always thinks of his victims first, they added. Like many others, she fell for his lies. Once she knew the truth about the accusations against him, she cut ties right away. She also spoke out against him. This led to Epstein threatening to sue her for linking him to pedophilia.
The spokesperson ended by saying Ferguson stood by everything she said then. The email was simply advice given to the duchess. It was meant to calm Epstein down and stop his threats.
The infamous email reportedly called Epstein her "friend supreme." In it, she denied ever calling him "the P-word," referring to "pedophile," during a March 2011 interview. That interview came out just weeks before she sent the email.
"I know you feel terribly let down by me," Ferguson’s email to Epstein supposedly read. "And I must humbly apologize to you and your heart for that. Today I apologize for not responding to your mail or contacting you. I was bedridden with fear. I was paralyzed."
The message went on. "I was told, very clearly, to have nothing to do with you and to not speak to you or email you."
Ferguson claimed she did not want to cause more trouble for her ex-husband, Prince Andrew. The Duke of York lost his royal title because of his alleged connection to Epstein. Virginia Giuffre sued him for sexual abuse in 2021. They settled the next year, and he has always denied the claims.
In her March 2011 interview, Ferguson admitted that any link to Epstein was a "gigantic error of judgment" on her part. "I detest pedophilia and any child sexual abuse," she stated at the time. "I cannot state more firmly that I know I made a terrible, terrible error of judgment, in having anything to do with Jeffrey Epstein. What he did was wrong and for that he was justly imprisoned."
Epstein was arrested in 2019 on federal charges. These included sex trafficking minors in Florida and New York. He died by suicide at 66 years old. This happened while he was in custody at the Metropolitan Correctional Center in New York.