PALM BEACH, Fla. — As a team of WPTV journalists takes a thoughtful look back at two decades since the Jeffrey Epstein story first broke, a trauma therapist who has worked with 20 Epstein survivors wants to make one thing clear about the victims.
"I'm here to say, it is not their fault," said trauma therapist Randee Kogan. "How can we blame a fourteen-year-old girl for her actions with an adult, wealthy, powerful man who knew exactly what he was doing?"
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Kogan was eager to contribute to WPTV's documentary about Epstein because she believes the public doesn't truly understand what it means to be a survivor of his abuse.
"We're so focused on what did these victims do rather than what did Jeffrey Epstein do," she said. "How much did he have to manipulate each of these girls to have them come back?"
The documentary also features brave survivors sharing their stories publicly, including a local woman who endured 18 months of abuse as a young girl and another survivor named Ashley, who first met Epstein when she was 15 years old.
Kogan unpacks the lasting impacts of grooming and abuse in the WPTV original documentary "GROOMED: Surviving Epstein," airing Thursday, July 23 at 7 p.m. ET on WPTV.
