Fact Check

Real photo shows Epstein accuser Chauntae Davies giving Bill Clinton shoulder massage in 2002

"President Clinton was a perfect gentleman during the trip and I saw absolutely no foul play involving him," Davies later said.

by Taija PerryCook, Published Aug. 3, 2025


Image courtesy of Daily Mail


Claim:
A 2002 photo accurately depicts 22-year-old Chauntae Davies, an accuser of Jeffrey Epstein, giving former President Bill Clinton a shoulder massage.
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As rumors heated up in July 2025 surrounding the relationship between U.S. President Donald Trump and convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein (who died by suicide in jail in 2019), a claim about a different presidential connection made the rounds online: a resurfaced photo that purportedly showed former President Bill Clinton receiving a massage from then-22-year-old Chauntae Davies, one of Epstein's accusers.

One post of the image on Reddit (archived) received more than 137,000 upvotes, as of this writing. It also spread to X (archived) and Instagram (archived).

Bill clinton getting a massage from Epstein victim, Chauntae Davies (2002)
byu/Much_Ad3106 inpics

The image is real. On Aug. 18, 2020, British tabloid the Daily Mail published two photos depicting Clinton smiling as Davies kneels behind him on a chair, giving him a shoulder massage. According to Davies, Epstein raped and sexually assaulted her repeatedly for four years before her escape in 2005. This photo of Davies with Clinton was taken in 2002.

 (Image via Daily Mail.com)

According to a reverse-image search on tineye.com (archived), the earliest internet record of the photo above is from the 2020 article in the Daily Mail. 

According to the Daily Mail article, the person who captured the photo took it while the group refueled at a small airport in Portugal en route to Africa for a humanitarian trip spanning multiple countries in September 2002 during which Clinton was going to be raising awareness for AIDS.

Regarding Clinton himself, the Daily Mail article quoted Davies as saying the former president was a "perfect gentleman." Her comments about Clinton in the article are as follows:

Davies acted as an air stewardess on the flight and described being shocked when Clinton boarded the plane, saying he was "charming and sweet".

Davies, now in her early 40s, said of the massage pictures: "Although the image looks bizarre, President Clinton was a perfect gentleman during the trip and I saw absolutely no foul play involving him."

She explained the massage happened when "we had a stop-over for the jet to refuel and while we were in the terminal the ex-President was complaining of stiffness from falling asleep in his chair.

"Ghislaine chimed in to be funny and said that I could give him a massage.

"Everyone had a little chuckle but Ghislaine in her prim British accent insisted and said I was good. The President then asked me 'would you mind giving it a crack'."

"Ghislaine" is British socialite Ghislaine Maxwell, the longtime romantic and criminal partner of Epstein who was sentenced to 20 years in prison for sex trafficking and other criminal sexual activities involving minors.

In the limited Netflix series "Jeffrey Epstein: Filthy Rich," which came out approximately three months before these photos were released, Davies recalled the trip:

I went from being just the masseuse to being asked to be a personal assistant on this trip. So I was blinded by the opportunity of it. I hadn't gone anywhere really, and to go to Africa was like a dream come true. I flew from L.A. to New York, the plane was ready on the tarmac when I got there, and I took a seat. Then our guests arrived. It was Bill Clinton, Kevin Spacey and Chris Tucker. I was blown away, like oh my God, it was surreal. The trip was about the AIDS organization that Clinton had started. This trip to Africa is probably the single most amazing moment of my life, and I remember having this false belief that the abuse had stopped because nothing had happened in Africa. Thinking that maybe it just wasn't going to happen anymore. But after the Africa trip, the abuse started all over again, and it never stopped after that.

Clinton's name has long been associated with Epstein's, more recently regarding lawsuit documents unsealed in January 2024. 

Unverified flight logs filed with the FAA indicate that Clinton flew on Epstein's jet at least 26 times, according to a report published by Fox News in 2016. However, in 2019, Clinton's spokesperson, Angel Ureña, claimed on X (archived) that the former president had only taken a total of four flights on Epstein's jet.

Both Epstein and Maxwell were guests at the White House during Clinton's tenure on multiple occasions, as we've previously reported.

We reached out to both Clinton's foundation and Davies seeking comment regarding the photos and have not received responses.


By Taija PerryCook

Taija PerryCook is a Seattle-based journalist who previously worked for the PNW news site Crosscut and the Jordan Times in Amman.


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