Lifetime released the first trailer for the next iteration of its “Surviving” docuseries, “Surviving Jeffrey Epstein,” promising to expose new secrets from some of the women who say they were abused by him.
The four-hour doc investigates the billionaire New York financier who was accused of using his connections to the rich and famous to shield his predatory and abusive behavior with young girls. Featuring women who describe how Epstein lured underaged girls, the doc delves into the reality the survivors must now face in the wake of Epstein’s suicide behind bars.
The one-minute trailer gives a brief look at the experiences some women say they had at the hands of Epstein. One describes being “a human baton, passed from one person to another,” while another woman talks of being “groomed” to be a “personal sex slave.” A third survivor added: “The more I kept trying to resist, the more fun he was having.”
The two-part series will debut on Sunday, Aug. 9. You can watch the trailer in the video above.
Epstein was arrested last year on sex trafficking charges. Federal prosecutors said that Epstein sexually abused dozens of underage girls and paid many of them to recruit others. He died by suicide in a federal detention center in New York while awaiting trial. Earlier this month, Epstein associate and confidante Ghislaine Maxwell was arrested by the FBI on charges she conspired to recruit, groom and sexually abuse minors, some as young as 14. She has pleaded not guilty.
“Surviving Jeffrey Epstein” is being developed by Robert Friedman’s Bungalow Media + Entertainment in association with filmmakers Anne Sundberg and Ricki Stern, both of whom will direct. Journalist Christopher Mason, who has contributed to The New York Times, New York Magazine, Town & Country and Architectural Digest, is also attached to the project.
“Surviving Jeffrey Epstein” will mark the second docuseries on the late New York financier, coming after Netflix’s “Filthy Rich.” It is the second in Lifetime’s “Surviving” franchise, following “Surviving R. Kelly” and its follow-up, “Surviving R Kelly Part II: The Reckoning.”
9 Infamous Hollywood Murders, From Black Dahlia to Sharon Tate (Photos)
TheWrap takes a look back at some of the grisliest killings in L.A. history
1947: The brutal murder of Elizabeth Short, a 22-year-old woman nicknamed "Black Dahlia," remains one of Hollywood's most grisly unsolved crimes and has since sparked numerous TV, film and literary adaptations.
Santa Barbara Police Department
1969: Charles Manson, leader of the so-called "Manson Family," ordered the deaths of actress Sharon Tate; writer Wojciech Frykowski and his partner, the coffee bean heiress Abigail Folger; and celebrity hairstylist Jay Sebring and several friends at the Beverly Hills home of director Roman Polanski.
ABC News
Red Lion/20th Century Fox
1976: Sal Mineo, the star of "Rebel Without a Cause," was stabbed to death near the Sunset Strip. Pizza deliveryman Lionel Ray Williams was later arrested and convicted of the murder.
ABC Network
1978: The "Hogan's Heroes" star Bob Crane was found bludgeoned to death in his Arizona apartment. John Henry Carpenter was arrested and charged with the murder in 1992.
CBS
1994: Former NFL star O.J. Simpson's ex-wife, Nicole Brown Simpson, and her friend Ron Goldman were found stabbed to death at her Brentwood home. The former football star-turned-actor was arrested and charged with the double homicide but found not guilty in a notorious trial.
YouTube
1998: "Saturday Night Live" star Phil Hartman was shot and killed in his sleep in his Encino home by his wife, Brynn Omdahl, who then turned the gun on herself.
NBC
2003: Phil Spector, a music producer famed for his so-called Wall of Sound, was convicted in 2009 of the 2003 shooting death of actress Lana Clarkson in his own home.
BBC Arena
Investigation Discovery
2010: The celebrated publicist Ronni Chasen was killed in an apparent robbery while driving home from the premiere of the Cher movie "Burlesque." The man who is believed by police to have killed her has since committed suicide.
Getty
2012: Nearly a year after his disappearance, former Fox executive Gavin Smith's car was found at a Simi Valley storage facility that was connected to John Creech, and Smith’s remains were discovered in a shallow grave in the Angeles National Forest. Creech was found guilty of voluntary manslaughter and sentenced to 11 years in prison.
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TheWrap takes a look back at some of the grisliest killings in L.A. history
TheWrap takes a look back at some of the grisliest killings in L.A. history