Tony Hawk Shuts Down Wild Epstein Island Wedding Rumor

The skateboarding legend had to spell out his entire wedding history after internet sleuths got confused by a photographer’s name.

When Your Name Gets Dragged Into Chaos

Tony Hawk woke up to find himself trending for all the wrong reasons. The skateboarding icon’s name appeared in recently released Epstein files, with an FBI email claiming he “got married on the island.” Not exactly the kind of publicity you want at 57.

Hawk didn’t waste time. He took to Instagram Stories on February 5 to set the record straight, posting in all caps like he was shouting from a halfpipe. His message was crystal clear: this whole thing is nonsense.

Four Weddings and Zero Islands

“Here are the facts and timelines of my nuptials, and I apologize if they don’t fit a narrative of nonsense,” Hawk wrote. Then he laid out his entire romantic history like a court filing.

His first wedding to Cindy Dunbar in 1990 was at home in Fallbrook, California. Second marriage to Erin Lee in 1996 happened at a San Diego Hilton. Third time around, he married Lhotse Merriam in 2006 on Tavarua Surf Island in Fiji. His current wife, Cathy Goodman, became Mrs. Hawk in 2015 at Ireland’s Adare Manor.

Notice something? Not a single Caribbean island owned by a convicted sex trafficker.

The Photographer Mix-Up That Started It All

Here’s where things get weird. One of Hawk’s wedding guests in 2006 shot photos of the Fiji ceremony and licensed them to Getty Images. His name? Mark Epstein. Yes, really.

Hawk stressed that this Mark Epstein is “an accomplished action sports photographer from Wyoming and of no relation to Jeffrey Epstein.” But when internet detectives see “Epstein” plus “island wedding photos,” logic goes out the window.

The confusion is almost comical. Wedding photos from a Fiji surf island, taken by someone named Epstein, somehow morphed into Tony Hawk getting married on Jeffrey Epstein’s private island. It’s like a game of telephone played by conspiracy theorists.

Facts Don’t Care About Your Theories

“This is all easily verifiable information. Facts are not fungible,” Hawk concluded. He even apologized to photographer Mark Epstein for getting dragged into what he called “the misinformation vortex.”

The whole episode shows how quickly false information spreads online. Hawk’s name appeared in an October 2024 FBI email reporting on alleged human trafficking, but being mentioned doesn’t mean guilt. Sometimes it just means someone got their facts wrong.

Hawk handled it the right way – with receipts, clarity, and just enough attitude to make his point. In a world where rumors travel faster than a 900-degree spin, sometimes you need to land hard on the truth.