It's Been a Minute The beauty industry has an Epstein problem
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Mar 17, 2026 
Jessica DeFino, reporter and author of the Flesh World Substack who covers beauty culture and power dynamics, joins to unpack ties between the beauty world and powerful figures. They trace the industry’s obsession with youth, name financial and social entanglements, and debate how beauty functions like a secular religion shaping worth and sacrifice.
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Beauty Executives Linked To Epstein Networks
- Beauty industry leaders can be financially and socially entangled with predators, undermining their public messaging of empowerment.
- Jessica DeFino found Deepak Chopra in the Epstein files and that Epstein owned Allergan shares, linking wellness/beauty elites to his networks.
Question Beauty's Self Care Story
- Question the industry framing of beauty as self-care and examine who sets the ideals you chase.
- DeFino urges consumers to separate brand empowerment rhetoric from the actual values and motivations of beauty company leaders.
Youth Fetish Is Embedded In Beauty Language
- Ubiquitous youth fetish in beauty is decades old and marketed through language that equates youthful traits with desirability.
- DeFino traces examples from Brooke Shields and Kate Moss to anti-aging product names like baby facial and taglines like Innocence is sexier.