Carole Radziwill addressed her name appearing in the Jeffrey Epstein files before the sixteenth season of "The Real Housewives of New York City". At a press event at Wölffer Estate Vineyard in the Hamptons, Radziwill stated, "I mean, I felt like this isn’t something I shy away from." She noted that many others also found their names in the files and emphasized the importance of transparency regarding the matter. Radziwill claimed she was unaware of Epstein's actions, stating, "I didn’t know anything, as no one, you know, 20 years ago would have known anything."
Radziwill criticized her former acquaintance Ghislaine Maxwell, who was convicted for her role in aiding Epstein's sexual abuse of minors, saying, "It’s hard to think that someone you knew that long ago, even called a friend at some point, was a horrible, horrible person doing horrible things."
She described her return to "RHONY" after eight years as an opportunity to discuss the files, mentioning, "There are real victims and survivors that were brave enough to really stand up to these very, very powerful people." In the Season 16 trailer, Radziwill is asked by co-star Sai Da Silva if she has ever been to Epstein's private island, to which she replied, "No," and questioned if Da Silva thought she was part of an international sex trafficking ring.
In another scene, a passerby in New York shouted, "She’s the one from the Epstein files!" After her name surfaced in the Epstein files earlier this year, Radziwill told the New York Times in March that she "never knew Jeffrey Epstein." However, she acknowledged being friends with Maxwell for five or six years in the early 2000s, clarifying that their friendship ended long before Maxwell's crimes became known. Radziwill remarked, "Imagine knowing someone… and then they turn out to be, like, a monster." Maxwell was credited as the photographer of Radziwill’s author photo in her 2005 memoir, "What Remains: A Memoir of Fate, Friendship and Love." During her NYT interview, Radziwill insisted that Maxwell did not appear to her as someone capable of such behavior, stating, "If you lined up 10 women, and you asked, like, pick the woman who would be involved in an international sex trafficking ring, it would not be her." The sixteenth season of "RHONY" premieres on September 8 on Bravo.