Name: Epstein Survivor Speaks Out for the First Time
Uploaded: 2026-09-05T09:29:00Z
Duration: 15 min 53 s
Description: Julia Molchanova was abused by Jeffrey Epstein as a young woman before escaping in 2019. In an exclusive interview with WSJ’s Khadeeja Safdar, she shares her story publicly for the first time.

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Julia Molchanova was abused by Jeffrey Epstein as a young woman before escaping in 2019. In an exclusive interview with WSJ’s Khadeeja Safdar, she shares her story publicly for the first time. Photo: Reshma Kirpalani

https://m.wsj.net/video/20260904/a1cb5845-1487-414f-b121-72b40c105455/1/hls/manifest-hd-wifi.m3u8

Julia Molchanova was abused by Jeffrey Epstein as a young woman before escaping in 2019. In an exclusive interview with WSJ’s Khadeeja Safdar, she shares her story publicly for the first time.

Epstein Survivor Speaks Out for the First Time

The files show that Epstein was always on the lookout for assistants. What did it mean to be an assistant for Epstein?

When someone comes to the house, he cannot say, "Hey, this is Julia. I'm abusing her." He would say, "This is Julia. She's an assistant." So I was like just a legal coverup of using this word and it has nothing to do with reality.

Following his 2008 conviction, Jeffrey Epstein targeted young women in their late teens and early 20s. Often from Russia and Europe, he lured them with promises of education and career opportunities. He called some of the women he was sexually abusing his assistants. Very few of them have ever spoken out. Julia Molchanova does so for the first time in an exclusive interview with the Wall Street Journal. Tell me about the first time you met Jeffrey Epstein.

I was on my own trip to New York City. I was 22 years old. He saw me just on the street, but back then I didn't speak English at all, but he seemed to be kind and it didn't alert anything. We exchanged phone numbers and the next day, he invited me for breakfast.

Do you remember what he said during the breakfast?

He start asking the questions about my life because for him it was important to find like what interests you so eventually he can use it against you. And that's how he learned that back then, in the same time I was in very abusive relationship with my boyfriend, but also he learned that even I was studied design back then at university, I like genuinely dream about fashion.

And when he found out that you dreamed about fashion, what did he say?

Well, he just said that he has all these connections and he made it look and sounded that he's capable of helping to enroll me to FIT, which is Fashion Institute of Technology.

A spokeswoman for FIT said the university is continuing to investigate references to the school.

So after that breakfast meeting, I just went back to Russia because I was studying at university. But then he reached out to me and he said that he's inviting me back to New York specifically for FIT reasons and that his secretary will arrange me a visit to the university to learn about the program. So I flew back to New York City.

Julia said the sexual abuse began on this trip.

You just freeze. You're confused and you're lost in the same time and then your realization comes later, not in that specific moment. When I have to remember that specific moment, I barely remember and I think it's like trauma coping too. It just like blocks it.

It's my understanding that the next time you met was in Paris. Can you tell me what happened on that trip?

Well, it's actually was my trip with that boyfriend I still had in Russia. I remember that Epstein told me that he might be around the same time in Paris. And I remember when I was at the store with my boyfriend, he started arguing with me and threatened me at that moment. I just felt that I have to run from that store away from my boyfriend. And I sat at some cafe and I texted Epstein actually and he said, "Yes, I'm in Paris. Come meet me." He got me a new ticket back to Russia and I flew that next day.

Yeah, so he positioned himself at that point as someone who was gonna help you?

In that specific moment, yes.

After Julia finished university in Russia, Epstein helped facilitate her relocation to New York, moving her into an apartment building where he housed many of his victims.

I was placed in that apartment in New York and that's how slowly he start controlling the situation from that very moment.

What were some of the ways that he controlled you?

He was very manipulative man. He knew all these little tricks and how to play these mind games with you. So it starts like innocent and slow, but then it turned violent. There was lots of layers because abuse doesn't look like just bad or good. It's way more sophisticated. He'll give you a credit card and every spend and you have to explain what this money was spent on and take picture of every single receipt. Then he would give you a phone and laptop and everything like connected to his accounts and you need to have like certain haircut, what you need to wear, like controlling your weight.

It's no secret that Epstein had a huge network of celebrities and powerful people around him. What were those interactions like with these people?

He had interaction with them. I always knew my place. I would never cross that line.

Did those people ever see you?

Oh, of course. So we would be in the house, they would see us, but it wouldn't alert anyone.

How do you think the network of powerful people factored into the way that you interacted with Epstein and what you though about him?

I think it built a credibility to him because when you see all these famous people, politicians, and so on visiting him, that's mean like, I guess it gives you like sort of credibility as a human, otherwise, why they visiting you?

So in the files, there's lots of thank you messages from women to Epstein. Can you explain those?

That was something was like a mandatory to do. You have to email and like express this constant gratitude and like how amazing he is and so on. And God forbid you don't do that. He screamed at me all the time for many reasons, and a few times he actually told me to stay in the room and not to leave that room. One time it was for 24 hours. The other time it was on an island. It was two to three days. You just like walking on your tiptoes and you don't wanna cross this line with him to make him angry. And also looking back, it gives me this cult dynamics because he as a leader who he thought he was. He isolates you from friends and family. He creates you this circle with people you're together with who you're supposed to be friends.

What was your relationship like with the other women and were the women around treated equally?

It was some of these people I were friends and they were truly good people. And they were also like in this horrible situation, but we were not allowed to talk about it. Yes, we were treated differently. For him, you needed to be useful and bring something like to the table, if you can say that way. He was telling everybody all the time like to bring him new girls. I never introduced anyone and I suffered because of that a lot. Part of the punishments when you're not introducing anyone, he gets annoyed with you and then he targets you mentally. I think because I was depressed so much, I was literally, eat a lot and cry a lot and this kind of would be my routine. And then he would yell at me that I'm gaining weight and he would put me on scale in front of everyone. And actually, at some point, he was taking pictures of me when I was really fat and then he would place it in different places that like for him it was fun that people can see like me being fat. And like most of the time, I was extremely depressed. And one time I asked him if I can go and see a therapist and he said, "Absolutely not." And at the same time, he control all the doctors. For him, that would be dangerous because he would think I would say something. I remember walking in New York and just like thinking, "I hope the bus will hit me and this will be over." And that's like hard because when you live in that state of mind for a long time, it just actually easier for him to abuse you because you're like mentally broken.

Did you ever think about calling the authorities?

He is the man in power and connected to so many people, politicians. I would never picture myself saying anything against him because the amount of fear I would experience would be enormous and I would think it would cost me a life.

Did you have a sense that what he was doing was criminal?

I don't think back then I was thinking that far and deep about it because I was dealing with him on a daily basis and he was abusing me all the time. So I think I was more about how to go through a day and not to cause a scene a problem.

What we've seen is he was trafficking women in plain sight in front of everyone. There was even news coverage and tabloids covering it and you received some of that coverage. What was that experience like?

It was very damaging and hurtful back then because instead of pursuing his crimes, these tabloids took it on women and enabled this abuse to continue and I feel it made us more trapped towards him. I think it was in some way beneficial for him because we were exposed in an ugly way, and I would say it was a pure defamation of our characters because the reality was different.

The Daily Mail did not respond to our request for comment. At what point did you realize that something wasn't right?

Some girls would try it in a very gentle way to say something, and it kind of was the first, like raising like alerts to me that slowly, but surely, getting the sense that something is wrong and at some point, I have to come up with idea how to escape. At some point in 2018, he raped me and it was like real rape. I mean, I've been abused by him before, but it was something I didn't expect at all and it was extremely scary. I was lost in my own life, I would say. I didn't know like how to function.

After this point, how did you extricate yourself from Epstein's orbit?

I tried to distance myself with any possible excuse because after that horrible event, I was trying to come up with anything like inside. I was screaming for help, but just didn't know how to express it and who to talk to. But my whole body inside was desperate of help. And at some point, I opened up to a trusted friend and I told him everything and he just felt that he needs to help me and just basically gave me the guidance, how to cut off the ties.

In 2019, with the help of her friend, Julia started to distance herself from Epstein. She sent an email in April telling him she wanted to move on with her life. Epstein didn't take the news well.

They basically start sending to my friend like my letters to discredit me. He was losing control of the situation and he wanted to target me more and instead of just to let me go, right? He wouldn't wanna give up that control feeling.

In the years that followed her escape from Epstein's orbit, Julia struggled to reckon with what she had been through. From roughly 2019 to 2021, she said she was suicidal, but she found companionship in her dog, enrolled in a graphic design course, and took up painting, all of which helped to keep her going.

I heard this song from Ukraine singer and it called "Mishka Vinoven," which in English, pretty much translate as guilty bear. You guys wanna listen? Then he said, "Bear is guilty." I was like, "Yes." You got to run away. Like how? I felt that about Epstein. In 2019, when I start my paintings as a part of the therapy, obviously, I was referring the bear towards him. It was confusing time, kind of slick start, understanding what was happening, but not fully yet. So much wasted time. Like school never happened and you look back at your life like, "What was that?" It was traumatizing, truly understand how evil he was.

Many of the Epstein files were released this year. What has that experience been like for you?

That was like reliving this horror again because as a victim, all my privacy and rights were violated and all my personal information was exposed in an ugly way. This whole year made me rethink lots of things in life, and I told my lawyers that I wanna be helpful either with Congress or help girls deliver their stories. It's very important that people pay more attention what's grooming, what's emotional abuse, and sex trafficking. It doesn't look like in the movies. Reality is different. It starts with someone acting trustworthy, but then slowly, but surely, taking your life away from you.

These days, Julia is in frequent contact with her lawyers as she continues to seek justice for herself and other victims.

Calling my lawyer.

Hello?

Hi, Brad. How are you?

How are you doing?

The interview is happening and I think it's going good, but I do feel stressful and anxiety of this decision.

Okay.

But as you know, the cause is good to be helpful and empower other victims and survivors on this. So...

I told you before, I don't disagree with your decision and I totally understand it. You have to live your life and you have to do what you feel is best for you to live your life and do not let anybody else tell you how to live it, including any case or anything else that's going on. So I feel like you're doing the right thing and you're gonna help a lot of people.

‘Tricks’ and ‘Mind Games’: Epstein Survivor Details Her Abuser's Tactics

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