Brett Ratner, director of Amazon MGM Studios documentary Melania, has denied having a relationship with Jeffrey Epstein after appearing in Department of Justice files on the late sex offender.
The millions of documents released by the DoJ featured an image of Ratner with his arm around an unidentified woman sitting next to Epstein. Ratner told Fox News Digital that the mystery woman was his fiancée at the time.
“About 20 years ago, I had a girlfriend. I was in love with her. We were engaged. She was my fiancée. We went to an event, and we were sitting on the couch, and the photo was taken at that event,” he explained. “I didn’t have a personal relationship with him [Epstein]. I didn’t know him.”
Watch on Deadline
He added: “You get thrown into these things. It’s crazy. It’s horrible.” There is no suggestion that his inclusion in the Epstein files means Ratner was aware of the financier’s wrongdoing. Epstein was convicted of sex crimes in 2008, including soliciting prostitution from a minor.
Melania spotlights First Lady Melania Trump in the 20 days leading up to Donald Trump’s inauguration for a second term last January. It marks Ratner’s return to filmmaking after being accused of sexual misconduct by several women in 2017. He denied the allegations.
Melania opened with $7.1M at the box office, the best for a feature documentary in a decade, but this was a low return for a movie that cost $40M to license and $35M to market.