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Former model recalls Jeffrey Epstein abuse at private island, speaks out after his death: 'My life spiraled'
Lisa Phillips had big dreams of becoming a top model when she encountered Jeffrey Epstein.
The cover girl, who said she was abused by the late convicted sex offender on his private island, is speaking out candidly in a new podcast, “From Now On.” It aims to raise awareness of human trafficking and how it can impact anyone.
“It took me many years to get to this point,” Phillips, now a model scout and agent in Los Angeles, told Fox News Digital. “I struggled with the confusion of what happened to me years ago.”
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Lisa Phillips is speaking out about meeting Jeffrey Epstein. She claimed the late financier sexually abused her on his private island. (Brett Erickson)
“But as soon as I started speaking to other survivors, I started realizing that my story from so many years ago was the same as those – both the underage girls from Florida and the older girls that were 18-25,” she shared.
Phillips began modeling when she was 16 years old. By 19, she was already heading to fashion capitals, like London and Paris, making her mark. At age 21, she found herself in New York City, where she had booked a photo shoot in the British West Indies.
It was there that a fellow model told her about an island nearby – Little Saint James.
“We had an extra day,” Phillips recalled. “She said, ‘Let’s get out of here. Let’s do something. I have a friend, a really good friend. He’s amazing. He owns an island close by. Let’s see him. He said he would send us a boat, and we could hang out over there.’”
Lisa Phillips is seen here heading to Little Saint James. (Courtesy of Lisa Phillips)
The women boarded a boat and headed to the island. When they arrived, there were other women already there swimming in a pool and “enjoying themselves.”
At first, everything seemed “fine,” said Phillips. They had “a wonderful dinner” before Epstein approached them and introduced himself.
Lisa Phillips detailed her story in the podcast “From Now On.” (Courtesy of Lisa Phillips)
“He was very charming,” she recalled. “He was that type of man who just locked into you and made you feel very special, very safe and so interested in who you were as a person. I never had that attention from a man, not even from my father, expressing that much interest in everything that I was talking about, what I was doing, what my aspirations and goals were.”
“I always remember that he made me feel really special… That’s what he did for everybody.”
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Jeffrey Epstein’s former home on the island of Little Saint James in the U.S. Virgin Islands. (Emily Michot / Getty Images)
However, things took a turn “pretty quickly,” she claimed.
That same night, a woman casually approached her, saying that Epstein wanted a massage. A confused Phillips said she did not know how to give one. The woman nonchalantly told her to “just chill.” After assuring her, Phillips followed the woman’s lead. She felt safe with her.
Phillips claimed that the massage turned into Epstein sexually assaulting her in the room.
“That was the cover I shot the day I went to the island,” Lisa Phillips told Fox News Digital. (Courtesy of Lisa Phillips)
“It wasn’t a straight, ‘Let me pull you into a room and abuse you,’” said Phillips. “He eases into things, like, ‘It’s just a massage, right?’ The girl went along with it and brought me into the room to do this massage with him. It was a slow thing that escalated into abuse. The whole process was very confusing to me.”
Lisa Phillips said she returned to New York City feeling very confused and “filled with shame.” (Courtesy of Lisa Phillips)
“I was on an island,” she said. “I wasn’t in a house where I could say, ‘Excuse me, I need to leave,’ and grab my stuff. I was far away from home on an island I should never have been on.”
Phillips later learned that multiple women, like her, alleged that they were assaulted by Epstein under the guise of a massage.
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Lisa Phillips said things took a turn quickly on the day she met Jeffrey Epstein. (Neil Rasmus/Patrick McMullan via Getty Images)
She returned to New York City filled with shame.
“After that, my life spiraled,” Phillips admitted. “I started doing drugs and drinking… I felt like I was tarnished, or something was wrong with me that I didn’t stand up for myself… And everybody looked up to Jeffrey at the time.
“During those years, he wasn’t a playboy who hung out in the scene. People talked about him highly. When I would bring up his name to people, they would say, ‘We love Jeffrey. He did this for me. He got me a visa. He introduced me to my husband. He put me through school.’ It was always these big things that he did for people. That was confusing for me.”
Lisa Phillips has a podcast, “From Now On,” which aims to educate listeners on sexual abuse and human trafficking. (Brett Erickson)
Phillips also pointed out that the incident occurred in the early 2000s, long before the #MeToo movement where victims of sexual abuse came forward publicly with their accounts. At that time, she said, “You would never speak out about somebody like that with that kind of power.”
Phillips said she “suppressed” the shame and confusion she felt as Epstein portrayed himself as a mentor wanting to help.
“Nobody talked about the creepy massages and what was happening,” she said. “It was all hush-hush… He was influential, and he was manipulative. He groomed you to believe that he was your mentor.”
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Jeffrey Epstein appears in a photograph taken for the New York State Division of Criminal Justice Services sex offender registry on March 28, 2017 and obtained by Reuters on July 10, 2019. (New York State Division of Criminal Justice Services/Handout via REUTERS)
In 2006, Epstein was arrested over allegations that he had hired teenage girls to give him sexualized massages at his Florida home.
Two years later, prosecutors allowed Epstein to plead guilty to a charge involving a single victim. He served 13 months in a jail work-release program then quietly started rebuilding his network of influential friends, with the help of his socialite former girlfriend, Ghislaine Maxwell.
After a series of Miami Herald stories about the plea bargain that deprived Epstein’s victims of justice, federal prosecutors in New York revived the investigation and charged Epstein in 2019 with sex trafficking.
Virginia Roberts Giuffre holds a photo of herself at age 16, when she says Palm Beach multimillionaire Jeffrey Epstein began abusing her sexually. (Emily Michot/Miami Herald/Tribune News Service via Getty Images)
Epstein reportedly created and maintained a “vast network” and operation from 2002 “up to and including” at least 2005 that enabled him to “sexually exploit and abuse dozens of underage girls” in addition to paying victims to recruit other girls.
Prosecutors said that victims would be escorted to a room with a massage table where they would perform massages on Epstein.
At the time of Epstein’s arrest, prosecutors said they found a trove of pictures of nude and seminude young women and girls at his $77 million Manhattan mansion. They also say additional victims have come forward since the arrest. He pleaded not guilty.
Jeffrey Epstein is seen here with Ghislaine Maxwell, who is now serving her sentence at a low-security federal prison in Tallahassee, Florida. (Joe Schildhorn/Patrick McMullan via Getty Images)
On Aug. 10 of that year, Epstein was found dead behind bars. He was 66. The cause of death was suicide.
When Epstein killed himself in jail, prosecutors charged Maxwell with facilitating his illicit sexual encounters and participating in some of the abuse. The 62-year-old was convicted and is serving a 20-year prison term.
Phillips said that while she hated her abuser, she cried after learning of his death.
Lisa Phillips admitted she cried after hearing of Jeffrey Epstein’s death, something that confused her. (Brett Erickson)
“I didn’t know why,” she explained. “He was a bad guy, but I had good thoughts about him too… I just had this emotional breakdown of confusion. But if he was still alive, I probably would’ve had way too much fear to speak out. I probably would have never spoken out. But… I was willing to finally talk about what happened to me. I needed answers.”
Phillips went on to testify in a 2022 civil case involving another Epstein accuser, Virginia Roberts Giuffre, USA Today reported. She also filed as a Jane Doe under the Adult Survivors Act, citing abuse by an Epstein associate. According to the outlet, she received a settlement in a case involving JPMorgan Chase & Co. and Epstein accusers.
“The pain is in the numbers,” she explained. “You can go through some type of abuse and deal with it on your own… but when you start hearing about other women who had the same experiences with Jeffrey and others, it does something to your psyche,” she said.
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David Boies, representing several of Jeffrey Epstein’s alleged victims, center, arrives with Annie Farmer, second right, and Virginia Giuffre at federal court in New York on Tuesday, Aug. 27, 2019. Epstein, a convicted pedophile, killed himself in prison earlier that month while awaiting trial on charges of conspiracy and trafficking minors for sex. (Mark Kauzlarich/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
“… And when I started speaking to the other survivors, that’s where I felt validation… That’s when I felt safe to talk about my experience without people shaming me. I wasn’t alone.”
Today, Phillips hopes her podcast will provide a platform for other victims who are healing, like her.
“I want people to know that there’s a place where you can come and be heard,” she said. “I also want to educate people on how to advocate for themselves, and look out for red flags while you’re building your career. Because this can happen in any kind of business.”
Lisa Phillips wants her podcast to be a “safe space” for other victims of abuse to share their stories without fear. (Brett Erickson)
“I feel different today than I did yesterday,” she reflected. “It’s getting better. But I’m ready to start speaking out. And I’m ready to help others speak out, too.”
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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A North Carolina woman whose disappearance in 2001 triggered a 24-year search is now facing criminal charges from the year she vanished.
Michele Hundley Smith, now 63, was located Feb. 20 at an undisclosed location within North Carolina after detectives received new information about her case, the Rockingham County Sheriff’s Office said.
Smith was 38 when her husband reported that she left their Eden home Dec. 9, 2001, to go Christmas shopping in Martinsville, Virginia, and never returned. Her vehicle was never found.
An extensive investigation followed, and, despite years of investigative work, her whereabouts remained unknown until last week.
The 63-year-old woman posted $2,000 bond on a failure to appear charge related to a DWI from the month before she vanished for 24 years. (Robeson County Sheriff’s Office)
Authorities said Smith told investigators she left on her own accord and referenced “domestic issues.”
Sheriff Sam Page told Fox News Digital the sheriff’s office had no prior record of domestic incidents at the home. No criminal charges are expected in her disappearance. However, following her identification, investigators discovered an outstanding order for arrest dating back to 2001.
A missing persons flyer circulated at the time of Michele Hundely Smith’s disappearance in December 2001. (Bring Michele Hundely Smith Home/Facebook)
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In a statement, the Rockingham County Sheriff’s Office said that, after consultation with the District Attorney’s Office and further investigation, authorities identified an outstanding order for arrest for Smith for failure to appear.
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The order stemmed from a DWI charge issued by the Eden Police Department Nov. 11, 2001. Smith failed to appear in court Dec. 27, 2001, for that charge, the statement said.
On Feb. 25, 2026, Smith was taken into custody by the Robeson County Sheriff’s Office at the request of Rockingham County authorities. She later posted a $2,000 bond and is scheduled to appear in Rockingham County District Court March 26, 2026.
A missing mom found alive after 23 years reveals she left due to domestic issues. (Bring Michele Hundely Smith Home/Facebook)
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On Thursday, the New York Post reported it had located Smith in a trailer in a rural community near the South Carolina state line. Smith told the outlet she is trying to make amends with her daughter and the family she walked out on decades ago.
“My daughter is forgiving me. We are in contact, so leave me alone,” she told the outlet.
Smith’s neighbors said she had “been here for years and years” and mostly keeps to herself.
“We asked why she didn’t come out of the house much, and she said her husband passed. He passed last year. … She was really sad about it. She said she was depressed and stayed inside,” the neighbor said.
Michele Hundely Smith disappeared after leaving her home in North Carolina to go Christmas shopping in Virginia in December 2001. (Bring Michele Hundely Smith Home/Facebook)
In a 2018 interview on “The Vanished Podcast,” her daughter, Amanda Hundley, said her mother’s marriage was unraveling under the weight of alcohol abuse, infidelity and escalating marital arguments.
Smith had recently lost her job at a veterinary practice after being fired for drinking on the job, Hundley said.
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“My dad didn’t like the fact that my mom hid her drinking. I knew about it, and I was the only one. And I felt, you know, I was young, and I felt obligated not to say anything to betray my mom,” Hundley said on the podcast.
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According to Hundley, her father suspected the drinking but did not fully understand the extent of it until after Smith vanished.
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“He said, ‘Do you know where she kept the bottles at?’ And I showed them we had a little red building outside, and it was full of rum bottles, the empties, the ones that she had already drunk,” recalled Hundley, who was 14 at the time.
The couple’s relationship had also deteriorated. Hundley said both her parents had affairs during the marriage. She described frequent arguments that “got physical a few times.”
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Atlanta-area police blast parents over vodka martini packed in school lunch: ‘That is NOT apple juice’
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An Atlanta-area police department issued a blunt notice to parents after officers claimed a child brought a vodka-based beverage to school — tucked beside Doritos in a packed lunch.
The City of South Fulton Police Department sounded off about the incident in a now-viral Facebook post, warning parents to “CHECK. THE. LUNCHBOX.”
“Say Twin… Before you send them babies off to school… CHECK. THE. LUNCHBOX. Because why are we getting reports of juice boxes sitting next to… Cutwater margaritas??” the department wrote.
Officials also shared a photo of the alleged lunchbox, containing what appears to be a child’s lunch, Doritos and a Cutwater Lemon Drop Martini.
The police department shared a photo of a Cutwater canned cocktail in a lunchbox. (City of South Fulton Police Department via Facebook)
“That is NOT Capri Sun. That is NOT Apple Juice. That is a whole ‘Parent had a long night’ starter pack,” the department wrote. “Now little Johnny done pulled up to 3rd period talking about: ‘Who want fruit snacks?’ knowing good and well he got a Lemon Drop Martini in the zipper pocket.”
Cutwater Lemon Drop Martinis, as found in the lunchbox, are 11% ABV ready-to-drink cocktails made with vodka, triple sec, lemon juice and natural flavors.
They come in 12-ounce cans, similar in appearance to a soda can.
The City of South Fulton Police Department issued a statement after the apparent mishap. (City of South Fulton Police Department via Facebook)
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The department said it understands mornings can be hectic, but issued a stern notice to parents to “TIGHTEN UP.”
“Your child shouldn’t be the only one in the cafeteria with a beverage that requires an ID,” authorities wrote. “If it says 12% ABV… it does NOT belong next to a PB&J.”
Officials also provided a “quick parent checklist,” with items including: “Homework,” “Lunch packed,” and “Alcoholic beverages.”
Boxes of Cutwater Tiki Rum Mai Tai and Strawberry Margarita canned cocktails. (Gado/Getty Images)
“Check the lunchbox before the Fulton County Schools Police resource officers gotta do inventory at recess,” the department added.
It is unclear if any parents or students were disciplined in relation to the mix-up.
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Fulton County Schools did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment.
The City of South Fulton, Georgia, is a rapidly growing municipality located about 20 minutes from Atlanta and Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport.
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A federal prosecutor acknowledged Thursday that the decision to charge Salvadoran migrant Kilmar Abrego Garcia two years after a routine traffic stop was “extraordinary” while defending the human smuggling case as legally justified.
Abrego Garcia, 31, has become a flash point in the national immigration debate since last March, when he was deported to El Salvador in violation of a 2019 court order in what Trump administration officials acknowledged was an “administrative error.”
The Supreme Court later ruled that the administration had to work to bring him back to the U.S.
After returning in June, Abrego Garcia was taken into federal custody in Nashville and detained on human smuggling charges stemming from a 2022 traffic stop in Tennessee.
He has pleaded not guilty and is seeking dismissal of the charges on the grounds of vindictive and selective prosecution.
Kilmar Abrego Garcia and his wife Jennifer Vasquez Sura, left, are accompanied by Lydia Walther-Rodriguez, right, of We Are Casa, as they leave the federal courthouse, Thursday, in Nashville, Tenn. (AP Photo/George Walker IV)
A 2019 court order prevents Abrego Garcia from being deported to El Salvador after an immigration judge determined he faced danger from a gang that had threatened his family. He immigrated to the U.S. illegally as a teenager and has been under the supervision of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).
Abrego Garcia was accused in court records of repeated domestic violence against his wife, who alleged multiple incidents of physical abuse in protective order filings. She later withdrew the protective order request and has defended her husband publicly.
The Department of Homeland Security has also said he was living in the U.S. illegally and has alleged ties to MS-13, disputing portrayals of him as simply a “Maryland man.” His attorneys have denied the gang allegations.
Tennessee Highway Patrol body camera footage from when Abrego Garcia was pulled over for speeding shows a calm exchange with officers. While officers discussed suspicions of smuggling among themselves — noting there were nine passengers in the vehicle — Abrego Garcia was issued only a warning.
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A woman holds a sign in support of Kilmar Abrego Garcia in front of the U.S. District Court in Nashville. (Getty Images )
First Assistant U.S. Attorney for the Middle District of Tennessee Rob McGuire, who was acting U.S. attorney in April 2025, testified Thursday that his decision to charge Abrego Garcia was based on the evidence.
“I had previously prosecuted several human smuggling cases,” McGuire said, noting that after seeing video of the traffic stop, “I was immediately struck by how similar what was being depicted in the body cam was to those investigations.”
McGuire said Abrego Garcia’s vehicle belonged to someone with “a human smuggling background” and added that the route was “suspicious.”
“It was a large number of individuals traveling in one SUV with a driver who spoke for the group. No one had luggage… the car had Texas plates… the route was suspicious,” McGuire said.
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Kilmar Abrego Garcia arrived at the federal courthouse, Thursday, for a hearing on whether the charges against him should be dismissed. (AP Photo/George Walker IV)
During cross-examination, McGuire acknowledged that the timing of the charges, coming so long after the traffic stop, was “extraordinary.”
He said he had not previously been aware of the traffic stop but reiterated that nobody in the Trump administration, including the White House or the Department of Justice, pressured him to seek the indictment.
When asked about whether he might have felt pressure to prosecute the case, McGuire said, “I’m not going to do something that is wrong to keep my job.”
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Kilmar Abrego Garcia, right, and his brother Cesar Abrego Garcia, center, arrive at the Immigration and Customs Enforcement field office in Baltimore, Aug. 25, 2025. (AP Photo/Stephanie Scarbrough)
McGuire also said timing factored into charging Abrego Garcia since he was being held in El Salvador, and he did not want the indictment to go public before all senior officials were briefed on the matter.
“I knew from the get-go that this was going to be a controversial matter,” McGuire said.
U.S. District Judge Waverly D. Crenshaw did not make a ruling Thursday and said he would wait to receive post-hearing briefs from attorneys by March 5 before determining whether another hearing is necessary.
Crenshaw previously found some evidence that the prosecution “may be vindictive” and that prior statements by Trump administration officials “raise cause for concern.”
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Thursday’s court appearance came after a federal judge blocked the Trump administration from re-arresting Abrego Garcia into federal immigration custody on Feb. 17.
Fox News Digital’s Breanne Deppisch, Jake Gibson and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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