FILE – Tony Hawk attends the X-Games, Sunday, July 23, 2023, at the Ventura County Fairgrounds in Ventura, Calif. (Photo by Richard Shotwell/Invision/AP, File)
Tony Hawk has issued a detailed public rebuttal after online speculation claimed one of his weddings took place on a private Caribbean island once owned by Jeffrey Epstein, following the release of a new tranche of US Justice Department documents. The skateboarding icon, 57, addressed the claims directly on Instagram after social media users seized on a third-party tip contained in the files and attempted to connect it to his personal life. Hawk said the allegation was “nonsense”, laid out a verified timeline of his four marriages, and stressed that he had never met Epstein nor visited his island.
How the claim emerged and what the documents actually say
The confusion stems from an FBI tip referenced in the newly released Epstein-related files. The document summarises a call to the FBI’s tip line, logged by a Threat Intake Examiner at the National Threat Operations Center, in which an unnamed woman alleged she had been exploited as a minor and trafficked to multiple locations, including Little Saint James. In the course of recounting her allegations, the caller claimed she had been on the island “when Prince Edward was there and when Tony Hawk got married on the island”. The document does not present corroboration for that claim and makes clear it reflects the caller’s account. Being named in the files does not indicate wrongdoing, and many entries are unverified tips or third-party statements. Hawk’s name appears three times across the document release. Two of those references relate not to travel or personal associations, but to email discussions about the 2010 video game Tony Hawk: Shred. The remaining reference is the unverified allegation above, which Hawk says is demonstrably false.
Hawk’s response: timelines, locations and the source of the mix-up
Hawk responded via an Instagram Story, writing: “I apologise if they don’t fit a narrative of nonsense,” before listing the locations of each of his weddings:
- 1990: Fallbrook, California (at home)
- 1996: San Diego, California (Hilton Hotel)
- 2006: Fiji (Tavarua Surf Island)
- 2015: Ireland (Adare Manor)
None of those locations overlap with Epstein’s former property in the US Virgin Islands. He said the speculation likely arose from his third wedding in 2006, which took place on Tavarua Island in Fiji. Photographs from that ceremony were later licensed to Getty Images, and the photographer credited on those images is named Mark Epstein.
Hawk explained that his 2006 wedding to Lhotse Merriam took place in Fiji, not on Epstein’s island (Mark Epstein/Getty Images)
Hawk addressed that point explicitly: “One of the guests in 2006 shot photos of the Fiji ceremony and licensed them to Getty Images. His name is (coincidentally) Mark Epstein.” He added that the photographer is “an accomplished action sports photographer from Wyoming” who is “in no way related” to Jeffrey Epstein.
Photo Credit: @tonyhawk/Instagram
For context, Jeffrey Epstein’s brother, Mark Epstein, is a New York–based property developer; the shared surname appears to have caused the confusion. “This is all easily verifiable information,” Hawk wrote. “Facts are not fungible.” He apologised to the photographer for being “pulled into the misinformation vortex.” Hawk, a father of four and a household name well beyond skateboarding, concluded by reiterating that he had never visited Epstein’s island and had no personal association with the late financier, underscoring that the claim circulating online collapses under basic fact-checking. Go to Source
