HarperCollins apologizes to Melania Trump, recalls book over ‘unverified’ claim that Epstein introduced her to Trump

HarperCollins UK issued a formal apology this week to First Lady Melania Trump and removed passages of a recently released book that she says falsely suggested Jeffrey Epstein helped introduce her to President Donald Trump.

In an Oct. 7 statement, the publisher said it worked “in consultation with the author,” Andrew Lownie, to remove “several passages of the book that made unverified claims” about the First Lady from “Entitled: The Rise and Fall of the House of York.”

“Copies of the book that included those references are being permanently removed from distribution,” HarperCollins said. “HarperCollins UK apologizes to the First Lady.”

The book — an unauthorized biography of Prince Andrew, an Epstein associate — does not accuse Melania of any wrongdoing but claims Epstein "facilitated" her introduction to Trump, according to NBC News.

HarperCollins is the latest to retract and apologize to Melania, following similar apologies from The Daily Beast and others earlier this year. 

In July, the Beast retracted an article headlined “Melania Trump 'Very Involved' in Epstein Scandal: Author,” according to Axios. The piece reportedly cited author Michael Wolff, who speculated that Melania was introduced to Trump “by a model agent, both of whom Trump and Epstein are involved with.”

The First Lady shared a New York Post article reporting on the retraction.

According to the Post, the Beast issued an editor’s note that stated: “After this story was published, The Beast received a letter from First Lady Melania Trump’s attorney challenging the headline and framing of the article.”

“After reviewing the matter, the Beast has taken down the article and apologizes for any confusion or misunderstanding,” the statement continued, according to the outlet.

In September, Melania posted another apology and retraction from the Beast for Wolff’s comments made during a podcast episode. The outlet said that in addition to retracting the article, it “has also removed a portion of an episode of The Daily Beast Podcast titled ‘Trump’s Epstein Scandal Can’t Stop Won’t Stop’ referencing the First Lady.’”

In August, Democratic strategist James Carville apologized and deleted a YouTube video in which he repeated the same allegation that Melania met the President through Epstein, according to a post Melania made on X.

“After the episode, we received a letter from Melania Trump’s lawyer,” Carville said in a later podcast episode. “He took issue with our title of one of those YouTube videos from that episode and a couple of comments I made about the first lady.”

Melania has maintained that she first met her husband at New York’s Kit Kat Klub in 1998, as described in her 2024 memoir Melania.