Diksha Sundriyal
In an early scene of Netflix’s ‘Scoop,’ when photographer Jae Donnelly and his colleague are parked outside Jeffery Epstein’s house, waiting for Prince Andrew to come out, they watch a girl walk out of the house, past the guards, who don’t pay her any attention, which suggests that she must be a regular visitor. It is horrifying for them to see the girl like that because she is pretty young, barely 20 years old, they notice, and yet, it seems like she has been coming to the house for years.
This detail is particularly disturbing because, by then, Epstein had already been convicted of being a sex offender. Later in the movie, we see a picture of the girl with the name Kristina Tyneham written on it. Considering that the film is based on real events, one wonders if she is one of the many real-life victims who were abused by Epstein and others in his company.
Kristina Tyneham Represents the Real Victims of Jeffrey Epstein
In the list of the many women who have spoken out about the abuse they endured at a young age at the hands of Jeffrey Epstein, the name Kristina Tyneham is nowhere to be found. It is most likely a fictional name that the filmmakers came up with because while they wanted to present the point-of-view of the victims, they also wanted to respect their privacy and, hence, didn’t use any real names.
First arrested in 2005, Epstein was then accused of raping a 14-year-old girl. He pled guilty in 2008, and while several underage girls had shared their accounts of abuse, he was ultimately charged for a single victim. Thirteen months later, he was out of prison, and the stint did nothing to slow him down. The abuse continued until years later when many women came out, shocking documents were revealed, baffling connections were made, and Epstein eventually went to prison, where he died.
The Netflix film, however, doesn’t entirely focus on that. It is about Prince Andrew’s car crash of an interview with Newsnight in 2019 about his friendship with Epstein. But because Epstein’s crimes and the pain of the victims remain at the core of the story, the story couldn’t be made without at least acknowledging them, and that’s where Kristina Tyneham comes in. One could say that she is an amalgam of the young girls who were allegedly manipulated and abused for years and traumatized for life.
In the movie, Kristina Tyneham is noted to be somewhere around 20 or younger, but in real life, girls as young as 13 and 14 were allegedly abused by Epstein and his cohorts. Virginia Giuffre, who is also mentioned in the film, was seventeen when she first met Epstein and was allegedly raped by him and manipulated into the situation under the guise of helping her become a professional massage therapist. She, along with dozens of other women, eventually sued Epstein.
Kiki Doe was only 19 when she was recruited by a stranger while working at a coffee shop in Manhattan to enter Epstein’s circle. Her dream of becoming a model was used against her. In the same vein, Anouska de Georgiou, who was also a teenager and a model, was also pulled into his orbit and was allegedly flown around his several properties, including his private island.
Sarah Ransome was only 22 in 2006 when she was taken to the private island and allegedly raped by Epstein. She later reported that when she talked about the abuse with the person she was dating at the time, who was a senior employee at JPMorgan, she was told to forget about the whole thing and move on. Johanna Sjoberg was 21 when she was lured into Epstein’s vicious circle of abuse; Michelle Licata was only 16; Jena-Lisa Jones was 14; Jennifer Aroaz was 14 and was picked right outside of her school by Epstein’s recruiter.
Courtney Wild was 14 when she was invited to Palm Beach to give massages to Epstein, which she alleges turned into sexual abuse. Annie Farmer was 16 when she was invited to Epstein’s ranch in Santa Fe and raped. Her elder sister, Maria, met the same fate a few months later. When Maria found out what had happened, she reached out to the FBI, but the case didn’t amount to anything and was forgotten until, eventually, the truth came to light. The film acknowledges the traumatic experiences of all these women and more to show the audience the alarming truth.
Read More: The Lolita Express: What Happened to Jeffrey Epstein’s Private Plane?
