Journalist Katie Couric told host Andy Cohen that her book details a scandalous dinner she attended at convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein‘s home in 2010 in honor of Prince Andrew.
(Video Credit: Watch What Happens Live with Andy Cohen)
While taking questions from the audience of “What Happens Live With Andy Cohen,” Couric was asked to share the “strangest” thing she remembered from attending the event.
In her 2021 memoir “Going There,” Couric wrote about the dinner and how it came about. She told Cohen that she was invited to Epstein’s $75 million New York townhouse in 2010 for a party held in honor of Prince Andrew.
“It was right before William and Kate were going to get married,” she recounted.
Guests at a 2010 Jeffrey Epstein Dinner Party included:
Chelsea Handler, Katie Couric, George Stephanopoulos, Prince Andrew, Woody Allen, and Charlie Rose. pic.twitter.com/esF2HoyDno— FreeThinkerFitness (@FreeThinkerFit) October 1, 2023
Journalist George Stephanopoulos was going to be there and she said she wanted to “schmooze” with Prince Andrew ahead of the royal wedding.
“I didn’t know anything about Jeffrey Epstein at the time. And it was super weird, I have to say,” she recalled. “The person I was with said, ‘Did you notice how young the girls who were taking the coats?’ And I said I really didn’t, but of course later we found out everything about him.”
“But I was invited to it and I should have done a little more research, but a lot of the stuff about him hadn’t come out yet,” Couric admitted.
The former “Today” host said lasagna was served in bowls and Epstein “held court” by the fireplace, according to Newsweek.
For someone who didn’t seem to notice the young girls, the journalist certainly noticed other aspects of the home.
“In her book, Couric recalled Epstein’s townhouse looked like ‘Eyes Wide Shut with a twist—creepy chandeliers and body-part art,’ per Newsweek. Chelsea Handler and Woody Allen were also reportedly in attendance,” Decider reported.
In 2010 when pedophile Jeffrey Epstein was released from prison for sex crimes against kids he had a dinner party. @GStephanopoulos, @chelseahandler, Woody Allen and @katiecouric all attended. Why? What person in their right mind goes to have a dinner party with a pedophile? pic.twitter.com/PKVDAf7mmG
— Robby Starbuck (@robbystarbuck) July 7, 2019
The dinner was held by Epstein following a 13-month stretch in jail for solicitation of prostitution and after he was forced to register as a sex offender.
“I couldn’t imagine what Epstein and Andrew were up to, apart from trying to cultivate friends in the media. Which, in retrospect, they must have figured they’d need when the pedophilia charges started rolling in,” Couric commented.
Prince Andrew claimed later that he went to Epstein’s dinner to end his friendship with Epstein.
According to Newsweek, the prince stated, “Oh, in 2010, there certainly wasn’t a party to celebrate his release in December because it was a small dinner party, there were only eight or 10 of us I think at the dinner. If there was a party then I’d know nothing about that.”
“At the end of the day, with a benefit of all the hindsight that one can have, it was definitely the wrong thing to do. But at the time I felt it was the honorable and right thing to do and I admit fully that my judgment was probably colored by my tendency to be too honorable but that’s just the way it is,” he added.
“I went there with the sole purpose of saying to him that because he had been convicted, it was inappropriate for us to be seen together,” he asserted.
Couric’s memoir covers her decades-long career as a journalist but the buzz around it seems to be all Epstein.