Former model recalls being abused at Jeffrey Epstein’s private island

Lisa Phillips had big dreams of becoming a top model when she met Jeffrey Epstein.

A Cover Girl who claims she was abused by a convicted sex offender on his private island is speaking out on a new podcast. “from now on.” It aims to raise awareness about human trafficking and how it can affect whom and how.

“It took me years to get to this point,” Phillips, now a model scout and agent in Los Angeles, told Fox News Digital. “I was struggling with the confusion of what happened to me many years ago.”

Epstein grand jury records released describe network of traffickers 'grooming' underage girls

“But as soon as I started talking to other survivors, I realized that my story from all those years ago was the same as the underage girls and older girls between the ages of 18 and 25 in Florida. “I started it,” she said.

Phillips started modeling when she was 16 years old. By the age of 19, she had already gone to fashion capitals like London and Paris and made her mark. At 21, she had booked a photo shoot in the British West Indies and was in New York City.

There, a fellow model told her about a nearby island, Little St. James.

“We had an extra day,” Phillips said. “She said, 'Let's get out of here. Let's do something. I have a friend, a really good friend. He's a great guy. He owns an island nearby. Let's go see him. He said he'd send us a boat and we could hang out there.'

Here Lisa Phillips is seen heading to Little St. James. (Courtesy of Lisa Phillips)

The women boarded a boat and headed to the island. When they arrived, other women were already swimming in the pool and “having fun.”

At first, everything seemed to be “going well,” Phillips said. They enjoyed a “great dinner” before Epstein approached and introduced himself.

Lisa Phillips detailed her story on the From Now On podcast. (Courtesy of Lisa Phillips)

“He was very charming,” she recalls. “He was the type of person who would lock you in and make you feel very special, very safe, and very interested in who you were as a person. I had never expressed so much and received so much attention from a man, and even from my father.'' What I was saying, what I was doing, my aspirations and goals. I was curious about everything that was going on. ”

“I'll always remember him making me feel really special…that's what he did for everyone.”

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Jeffrey Epstein's former home on Little St. James Island in the U.S. Virgin Islands. (Emily Michaud/Getty Images)

But things improved “pretty quickly”, she claimed.

That same night, a woman casually approached her and said Epstein wanted a massage. Confused, Phillips said she didn't know how to make the gift. The woman casually said, “Calm down.'' After reassuring her, Phillips followed the woman's lead. She felt safe with him.

Ms. Phillips claimed that after receiving a massage, Mr. Epstein sexually assaulted her in his room.

“That was the cover shot the day I went to the island,” Lisa Phillips told Fox News Digital. (Courtesy of Lisa Phillips)

“It wasn't a straight-up, 'Let's pull him into a room and let him abuse us,'” Phillips said. “He says casually, 'It's just a massage, right?' The girl complied, took me into a room and gave me a massage. It gradually escalated and the whole process was It was very confusing.”

Lisa Phillips said she returned to New York City feeling very confused and “full of shame.” (Courtesy of Lisa Phillips)

“I was on an island,” she said. “It wasn't a house where I could say, 'Sorry, I want to leave,' and take my things with me. I was on an island far from home that I should never have gone to.”

Philippe later learned that several women like her had claimed that Epstein had assaulted them under the guise of a massage.

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Lisa Phillips said things took a turn for the worse the day she met Jeffrey Epstein. (Neil Rasmus/Patrick McMullan, via Getty Images)

She returned to New York City feeling ashamed.

“After that, my life went into a downward spiral,” Phillips admitted. “I started doing drugs and drinking… I felt like I was defiled, like there was something wrong with me that I couldn’t stand up for myself… and at that time everyone I respected Jeffrey.

“Back then, he wasn't some playboy hanging out on the scene. People spoke highly of him. When I put his name out to people, they say, 'We're talking about Jeffrey. I love him. He did this for me. He introduced me to my husband and put me in school.'' That was always a big deal and confusing to me. ”

Lisa Phillips' podcast “From Now On” aims to educate listeners about sexual abuse and human trafficking. (Brett Erickson)

Phillips also pointed out that the incident occurred in the early 2000s, long before the #MeToo movement, when victims of sexual abuse came forward publicly. At that time, she said, “I would never talk about someone with that kind of power.''

Phillips said she had “repressed” the embarrassment and confusion she felt when Epstein portrayed her as a mentor who wanted to help her.

“No one talked about the creepy massage or what was going on,” she says. “It was all secret…He was influential and manipulative. He made you believe he was the leader.”

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Jeffrey Epstein is pictured in a photo taken for the New York State Department of Criminal Justice sex offender registry on March 28, 2017, and obtained by Reuters on July 10, 2019. (New York State Department of Criminal Justice/Source via Reuters)

In 2006, Epstein was arrested for allegedly hiring a teenage girl to give sexual massages at his Florida home.

Two years later, prosecutors allowed Epstein to plead guilty to charges involving one victim. After serving 13 months in a prison release program, he quietly began rebuilding his network of influential friends with the help of his socialite ex-girlfriend, Ghislaine Maxwell. .

Federal prosecutors in New York reopened the investigation and indicted Epstein on sex trafficking charges in 2019 following a series of Miami Herald reports about plea deals that stripped Epstein's victims of plea deals. did.

Virginia Roberts Giuffre has a photo of herself from when she was 16 years old that she says Palm Beach billionaire Jeffrey Epstein began sexually abusing her. (Emily Michaud/Miami Herald/Tribune News Service via Getty Images)

Epstein reportedly built and maintained a “vast network” from 2002 until at least 2005, in addition to paying his victims to recruit other girls. It said it enabled the “sexual exploitation and abuse of dozens of underage girls.”

Prosecutors said the victims were taken to a room with a massage table, where Epstein would give them massages.

At the time of Epstein's arrest, prosecutors said they had discovered a trove of photographs of nude and semi-nude young women and girls in his $77 million mansion in Manhattan. They also say more victims have come forward since the arrests. He pleaded not guilty.

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Jeffrey Epstein is pictured with Ghislaine Maxwell, who is currently serving a sentence at a maximum-security federal prison in Tallahassee, Florida. (Joe Schildhorn/Patrick McMullan, via Getty Images)

On August 10 of the same year, Epstein was found dead in prison. He passed away at the age of 66. The cause of death was suicide.

When Epstein committed suicide in prison, prosecutors charged Maxwell with facilitating illicit sexual contact and participating in some of the abuses. The 62-year-old was convicted and is serving a 20-year sentence.

Philip said she hated her abuser but cried when she learned of his death.

Lisa Phillips admitted she was confused and cried when she heard about Jeffrey Epstein's death. (Brett Erickson)

“I didn’t understand why,” she explained. “Even though he was a bad guy, I had good thoughts about him too…I was just having a mental breakdown with the chaos. But if he was still alive, maybe I'd be too… I would have been too scared to speak up, which I probably would have done.''But…I finally decided to speak up because I needed answers about what happened to me. ”

Phillips continued 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 Epstein's associates. According to the newspaper, she received a settlement from a lawsuit between JPMorgan Chase and Epstein.

“The pain is in the numbers,” she explained. “You can go through some kind of abuse and deal with it on your own…but when you start hearing about other women who have gone through the same experiences as Jeffrey and other women, it does something to your psyche.” she said.

Jeffrey Epstein's sex trafficking accomplice Ghislaine Maxwell loses appeal

On Tuesday, August 27, 2019, in federal court in New York, David Boies (center), representing several of Jeffrey Epstein's alleged victims, speaks with Annie Farmer (second from right) and Virginia He appeared with Giuffre in federal court in New York. Epstein, a convicted pedophile, previously committed suicide in prison. That month, he was awaiting trial on charges of conspiracy to traffick minors for sexual purposes. (Mark Kauzlerich/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

“…and when I started talking to other survivors, that’s where I felt validated… That’s when I felt comfortable talking about my experiences without shame. I wasn’t alone.”

Now, Phillips hopes her podcast will provide a platform for other survivors who are healing like her.

“I want people to know there is a place where you can come and be heard,” she said. “I also want to educate people about how to advocate for themselves and how to watch out for red flags as you build your career, because this can happen in any type of business. ”

Lisa Phillips hopes her podcast will be a “safe space” for other abuse survivors to share their stories without fear. (Brett Erickson)

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“Today I feel different than yesterday,” she reflected. “Things are getting better. But I'm ready to speak out. And I'm ready to help others speak out.”