Sarah Ferguson removed from children's charity following controversy over Jeffrey Epstein email.
A children's organization is separating from Sarah Ferguson. Julia's House, a child hospice center, announced in a statement that they will no longer be interacting with the Duchess of York after an email she sent to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein in 2011 referring to him as a "supreme friend" reappeared.
“Following the information shared this weekend on the Duchess of York’s correspondence with Jeffrey Epstein, Julia’s House has taken the decision that it would be inappropriate for her to continue as a patron of the charity,” as per The Guardian, the organization said in a statement on September 22. “We have advised the Duchess of York of this decision and thank her for her past support.”
After seven years of collaboration, Julia's House break from Ferguson, whose ex-husband Prince Andrew has also come under fire for his connections to Epstein, follows their 2018 patronage of the organization.
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Regarding the email and the Julia's House statement, news organizations have contacted Ferguson's representatives but have not received a response as of yet.
According to the BBC, Ferguson forwarded Epstein her 2011 email. Epstein committed suicide in his prison cell in 2019 while awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges, weeks after she publicly broke off her relationship with him due to a different prostitution scandal involving kids.
“As you know, I did not, absolutely not, say the ‘P word’ about you but understand it was reported that I did,” Ferguson purportedly claimed in the email, which The Sun and The Daily Mail were able to receive on September 21, that she wrote it in reaction to threats from Epstein, according to her spokeswoman. “I know you feel hellaciously let down by me. You have always been a steadfast, generous and supreme friend to me and my family.”
A representative for Ferguson stressed her "regret about her association" with the embattled financier after the letter was made public.
“As they have always been, her first thoughts are with his victims,” in a statement to NBC News, a Ferguson official added of Epstein: “Like many people, she was taken in by his lies. As soon as she was aware of the extent of the allegations against him, she not only cut off contact but condemned him publicly, to the extent that he then threatened to sue her for defamation for associating him with pedophilia.”
In fact, Ferguson, the mother of Princesses Beatrice, 37, and Eugenie, 35, had stated in public in 2011 that Epstein's behavior was "bad" and that he was "rightly" imprisoned for it.
“She does not resile from anything she said then,” Ferguson's representative said. “This email was sent in the context of advice the Duchess was given to try to assuage Epstein and his threats.”