The Night We Saw Jeffrey Epstein in Real LifeWith free-flowing top-shelf liquor, truffle-oily foods, megaluxe venues, and scores of A-to-D-listers poised to shun our goofy questions, most Peggy Siegal parties fill us with a heady mix of wonder and self-loathing. Last night’s private screening of the HBO film Bernard and Doris at the Time Warner Center was no exception. At an event that seemed especially saturated with befuddling celebrity sightings: Why is Mo Rocca following Bebe Neuwirth like a puppy dog? Why is Cindy Adams photo-opping with Rush Limbaugh? Catherine Crier is still around? We were rendered speechless by one boldfacer we saw shuffling into the screening room with a beautiful woman: Jeffrey Epstein!
That’s right, Jeffrey Epstein.
Jeffrey. Ep. Stein. Unshaven, smiling that feline-monkey grin, wearing a slightly tattered sweater and jeans, he reeked of money and massage oil. Well, we didn’t get close enough to say for sure, but we could imagine. We knew he and Peggy are friends, and “I’ve only ever seen him in jeans,” she told New York in December. But really? The week after another lawsuit was filed against him by a teenage girl, he showed up to a movie premiere? With a young woman? (She looked to be in her twenties, at least, by the way.) Words failed us. Hell, even our fingers failed us as we fumbled to text a colleague about this turn of events.
The film began, and it seemed to dovetail thematically with Epstein’s saga: all about eccentric billionaires Doris Duke and her bizarre relationship with the hired help. When the lights went back up, Epstein and his comely companion were gone. No photographs of them on any of the wire services. Was it all a dream? —Justin Ravitz
Related: The Fantasist [NYM]
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Barron Hilton Was Not MuggedSecurity guards from Stereo thwarted a mugging of Paris Hilton’s brother, Barron Hilton. (And Barbara Walters will get Paris’s first post-prison interview.) Biographies of Dina Lohan state that she was a Rockette and Broadway actress, but she is neither. Porn star Savanna Samson backs Giuliani for president. Anna Quindlen is auctioning off naming rights to a character in her upcoming novel. Former Cosby Show star Phylicia Rashad often does not show up to parties she’s expected at. Bruce Willis was angry that Ashton Kutcher and Demi Moore were dating until Will Smith gave him a talking-to. Bebe Neuwirth went to a chiropractor.
