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Hosted by Jane Pauley

COVER STORY: How safe is America from polio?After decades of American children routinely receiving polio vaccines, the virus that had doomed many to paralysis was nearly eliminated in the United States. But vaccine avoidance today may allow the crippling disease to return. CBS News chief medical correspondent Dr. Jonathan LaPook talks with David Oshinsky, author of "Polio: An American Story," and with violin virtuoso Itzhak Perlman, who contracted polio as a child, about how parents opting out of vaccinations for their children could affect polio rates here.

For more info:

Itzhak Perlman (Official site)The Juilliard School, New York CityDavid Oshinsky, professor, New York University Grossman School of Medicine"Polio: An American Story"by David Oshinsky (Oxford University Press), in Hardcover, Trade Paperback eBook and Audio formats, available viaAmazon,Barnes & NobleandBookshop.orgPolio Vaccination (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention)Poliomyelitis (polio) (World Health Organization)

ALMANAC: February 22"Sunday Morning" looks back at historical events on this date.

ARTS: The legacy of the Studio Museum in HarlemIn 1968, a group of artists, activists, and community members founded the Studio Museum in Harlem. It was a space not just for displaying works celebrating the contributions of African-American artists, but also to foster up-and-coming artists through a residency program. Now, following a seven-year, $160 million renovation, the Studio Museum has reopened. Nancy Giles pays a visit.

For more info:

Studio Museum in Harlem, New York CitySculptor Simone Leigh on Instagram

SPORTS: The Winter Olympics wraps upSeth Doane reports.

PASSAGE: Remembering Jesse Jackson, an American originalMark Whitaker looks back on the life of The Rev. Jesse Jackson, the Baptist minister, civil rights leader and social justice activist, whose trailblazing presidential campaigns, built on a message of economic support and faith-based compassion, fostered his so-called "Rainbow Coalition."

Photographs courtesy of:

USA Today Network via Imagn ImagesBob Fitch Photography Archive, Department of Special Collections, Stanford University Library

PASSAGE: In memoriam"Sunday Morning" remembers some of the notable figures who left us this week.

JOURNALISM: Seymour Hersh's role as a reporter: "To find out secrets and facts"For six decades, Seymour Hersh's reporting for such publications as The New York Times and The New Yorker has changed public opinion and government policy – from documenting the My Lai massacre during the Vietnam War, to uncovering torture by American service members at the Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq. "60 Minutes" correspondent Lesley Stahl talks with the Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist about his career exposing corruption, and where he believes America stands now. She also talks with Laura Poitras, co-director of a new documentary on Hersh, "Cover-Up," about putting the reporter with a reputation for crankiness on camera.

To watch a trailer for "Cover-Up," click on the video player below:

FROM THE ARCHIVES:Seymour Hersh - The life of a "Reporter"|Watch VideoA memoir by the Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative journalist recounts a blockbuster career from the Golden Age of journalism. David Martin reports.

For more info:

The documentary"Cover-Up"is now streaming on Netflix

HEADLINES: Andrew's arrestElizabeth Palmer reports.

MOVIES: Rose Byrne on playing a woman at the end of her rope in "If I Had Legs I'd Kick You"Australian-born actress Rose Byrne earned an Academy Award nomination for her powerful performance in the drama "If I Had Legs I'd Kick You," playing a mother stretched to the limits. She talks with correspondent Tracy Smith about playing a woman losing all sense of control. Byrne also discusses her early years in Hollywood and the help she received from fellow Aussie Heath Ledger; and how she branched off from working in dramas like the TV series "Damages," to comedies like "Bridesmaids."

To watch a trailer for "If I Had Legs I'd Kick You" click on the video player below:

For more info:

"If I Had Legs I'd Kick You"(A24) is available via VOD and is streaming onHBO MaxThanks toSwingers Diner, Los Angeles

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HARTMAN: Mailman

BOOKS: Norah O'Donnell on "We the Women," about the unsung heroines of AmericaIn her new book, "We the Women," CBS News' Norah O'Donnell tells the overlooked stories of women who have helped shape our nation, from the single female whose name appears on the Declaration of Independence, to the first Black woman to argue a case before the Supreme Court. O'Donnell talks with correspondent Mo Rocca about being shocked by how much she didn't know of these women's contributions; the role of women in journalism today; and why she is optimistic about the future.

READ AN EXCERPT:"We the Women" by Norah O'Donnell

For more info:

"We the Women: The Hidden Heroes Who Shaped America"by Norah O'Donnell with Kate Andersen Brower (Ballantine Books), in Hardcover, eBook and Audio formats, available February 24 viaAmazon,Barnes & NobleandBookshop.orgMuseum of the American Revolution, PhiladelphiaIndependence National Historical Park, Philadelphia (National Park Service)

HEADLINES: Supreme Court ruling on Trump tariffsJo Ling Kent reports.

NATURE: Whitetail deer in New York

WEB EXCLUSIVES:

FROM THE ARCHIVES:Robert Duvall (Video)Academy Award-winning actor Robert Duvall died on Feb. 15, 2026 at the age of 95. In this June 25, 2006 "Sunday Morning" profile, the star of such classics as "The Godfather," "Apocalypse Now," and the TV miniseries "Lonesome Dove" talked with Rita Braver about his career, including the early days hanging out with Gene Hackman and Dustin Hoffman; his Oscar-winning performance as a country singer in "Tender Mercies"; and his love of westerns. He even gave a visiting reporter an impromptu tango lesson.

FROM THE ARCHIVES:Jesse Jackson's political movement (YouTube Video)Social justice activist The Rev. Jesse Jackson died on Feb. 17, 2026 at age 84. Watch these "Sunday Morning" reports from the 1980s chronicling the Chicago minister as he ran twice for the presidency, while raising a voice for those often unheard in the political process. Included:

Oct. 1983 - David Culhane reports on Jackson's decision about running for the White House as he campaigns on economic issues; talks with Andrew Young and Julian Bond July 1984 - Charles Kuralt and Bob Faw discuss Jackson's impact on the 1984 race, and his future in politics March 1988 - David Culhane reports on the Jackson campaign, his primary victories, and his appeal beyond minority voters; talks with John Lewis and political scientist Hugh HecloNov. 1988 – Just days before the election, Robert Pierpont reports on voter apathy over the Bush-Dukakis race, and how Jackson is trying to increase voter registration and participation

GALLERY:Notable deaths in 2026"Sunday Morning" looks back at the esteemed personalities who left us this year, who'd touched us with their innovation, creativity and humanity.

MARATHON:UFOs and aliens (YouTube Video)"The truth is out there" - maybe! Watch these "Sunday Morning" stories about the public fascination with UFO sightings and alleged alien visitations; theories about secrets hidden in Roswell, N.M.; and the search for extraterrestrial life. Featured:

Almanac: The first official UFO sighting in the U.S. in 1947 From 1995: Bill Geist visits Rachel, Nevada, the undisputed UFO Capital of the World Almanac: The 1969 closing of Project Blue Book, the U.S. Air Force's probe into UFO sightings From 2007: The nation's fascination with UFOs and aliens From 2021: David Pogue probes for answers to the age old-question, "Are we alone in the universe?"

MARATHON:A love letter to New York City (YouTube Video)From Manhattan to the Bronx, "CBS Sunday Morning" wanders the streets of the Big Apple.

The Emmy Award-winning "CBS News Sunday Morning" is broadcast on CBS Sundays beginning at 9:00 a.m. ET. Executive producer is Rand Morrison.

"Sunday Morning": About us

DVR Alert! Find out when "Sunday Morning" airs in your city

"Sunday Morning" alsostreams on the CBS News appbeginning at 11:00 a.m. ET. (Download it here.)

Full episodes of "Sunday Morning" are now available to watch on demand on CBSNews.com, CBS.com andParamount+, including via Apple TV, Android TV, Roku, Chromecast, Amazon FireTV/FireTV stick and Xbox.

Follow us onTwitter/X;Facebook;Instagram;YouTube;TikTok;Bluesky; and atcbssundaymorning.com.

You can also download the free"Sunday Morning" audio podcastatiTunesand atPlay.it. Now you'll never miss the trumpet!

Do you have sun art you wish to share with us? Email your suns to SundayMorningSuns@cbsnews.com.

Trump threatens strikes on Iran as more warships enter Mediterranean

Steel business owner on Trump's tariffs as world awaits Supreme Court decision

Ilia Malinin reflects on Olympic journey and future plans

NEED TO KNOW

• In an archived video from The Jim Henson Company, Jim's wife and co-creator, Jane Henson, talked about the Muppets' signature humor

• A new generation of fans are experiencing The Muppet Show through a new Disney+ special

Jim Henson's Muppets always had a special sense of humor.

In a video from the archives of The Jim Henson Company, the Muppets creator's wife, Jane Henson, explains how their signature snark came to be.

"The Muppet Showreally was an extension of what we began in the very beginning, because when we began, we were students out of college," Jane, who met Jim at the University of Maryland, shared.

"We had a kind of young adult kind of humor and disrespect of establishment and all that kind of thing, so the characters that we developed... we had a little family of five characters. Kermit was the main character. Then Sam, Sam was the only human and Sam never spoke. We had a monster who was kind of the beginning of all our monsters, and we had a cool musician."

Never miss a story — sign up forPEOPLE's free daily newsletterto stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer​​, from celebrity news to compelling human interest stories.

"It was camp right from the beginning, and it was that campy, somewhere between child and adult feeling that we wanted to continue. And I think, really,The Muppet Showwas a mature version of our originalSam and Friendsshow."

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The originalMuppet Showaired from 1976 to 1981 and was beloved by fans around the globe. The series won four Primetime Emmy Awards and three BAFTAs during its run.

In fact, theMuppets Showhad its beginnings in the UK because American networks were iffy about the racy sense of humor coming from what looked like children's characters to most.

Bettmann Archive

"Nobody really thought that puppets could stand on their own for half an hour on TV. They knew they were fine for two-minute bites onSesame StreetorThe Ed Sullivan Show. But a half hour on their own? This was something really controversial and groundbreaking," biographer Brian Jay Jones toldSlateof the initially uphill battle.

Lew Grade eventually was willing to take a chance on the Muppets, with Jones noting, "Lou Grade and Jim were were a generation apart, but they were cut from the same cloth. Grade had come out of the UK version of Vaudeville. He was famous for jumping on an oval-shaped table and doing the Charleston."

Audio journalist Sally Herships added, "It was filmed in England and broadcast around the world. But the Muppets wasn't just a show. It was a showwithin a show:Kermit as stage manager trying to get the whole crazy whirlwind zoo on stage. Miss Piggy the star, the diva. The Muppet Show was the archetype of a stage performance—and audiences loved it."

Fast forward to 2026 and a whole new generation is ready to fall in love with the Muppets signature charm. The new iteration ofThe Muppets Showis streaming now on Disney+.

Read the original article onPeople

In astatementposted Friday to social media, the 82-year-old said he just had a "very depressing visit" with his surgeon, who he said told him: "Barry, you won't be ready to do a 90 minute show. Your lungs aren't ready yet."

Manilow said his surgeon said he was in "great shape considering what you've been through, but your body isn't ready," and told him: "You shouldn't do the first Arena shows. You won't make it through."

The "Copacabana" hitmaker announced in December that he had been diagnosed with lung cancer and needed to reschedule his January concert dates in order to have surgery.

His upcoming arena shows were scheduled to begin Feb. 27 in Tampa, Florida, according to hiswebsite. Manilow said Friday he has to reschedule the first batch of shows from Feb. 27 through March 17.

Manilow said that "deep down, I wanted to go back—but my body knew what my heart didn't want to admit: I wasn't ready." He said that while he's been using the treadmill three times a day, he "still couldn't sing more than three songs in a row before I had to stop."

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"I'm SO, SO sorry I have to reschedule some of these first Arena shows. Again! But when I do come back, I will COME BACK!!!" he added.

Manilow said his surgeon indicated he might be able to perform in Las Vegas at the end of March and for the second leg of the arena shows scheduled to begin in April.

In December, Manilow said an MRI scan detected "a cancerous spot" on one of his lungs after he suffered a lengthy bout of bronchitis in the midst of a residency in Palm Springs, California.

"It's pure luck (and a great doctor) that it was found so early," Manilow said at the time, adding that he was having surgery to have the spot removed.

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U.S. Southern Command said on social media that the boat "was transiting along known narco-trafficking routes in the Eastern Pacific and was engaged in narco-trafficking operations." It said the strike killed three people. A video linked to the post shows a boat floating in the water before bursting into flames.

Friday's attack raises the death toll from the Trump administration's strikes on alleged drug boats to at least 148 people in at least 43 attacks carried out since early September in the Caribbean Sea and eastern Pacific Ocean.

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President Donald Trump has said the U.S. is in "armed conflict" with cartels in Latin America and hasjustified the attacksas a necessary escalation to stem the flow of drugs. But his administration has offered little evidence to support its claims of killing "narcoterrorists."

Criticshave questioned the overall legalityof the strikes as well as their effectiveness, in part because the fentanyl behind many fatal overdoses is typically trafficked to the U.S.over land from Mexico, where it is produced with chemicals imported from China and India.

The boat strikes alsodrew intense criticismfollowing the revelation that the military killed survivors of the very first boat attack with a follow-up strike. The Trump administration and many Republican lawmakers said it was legal and necessary, while Democratic lawmakers andlegal experts saidthe killings were murder, if not a war crime.

The 6-3 decision included three liberals and three conservatives in the majority. The coalition included Chief Justice John Roberts and Justices Sonia Sotomayor, Elena Kagan, Neil Gorsuch, Amy Coney Barrett and Ketanji Brown Jackson. Justices Clarence Thomas, Samuel Alito and Brett Kavanaugh dissented.

The six justices found that the law known as the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, or IEEPA, does not give the president the power to impose tariffs.

Enacted in 1977, IEEPA authorizes the president to "regulate … importation" to deal with "any unusual and extraordinary threat" to national security, foreign policy or the U.S. economy. When he announced hismost sweeping tariffs on nearly every countrylast April, Mr. Trump invoked IEEPA to respond to what he said were "large and persistent" trade deficits. He also relied on the law tohit China, Canada and Mexico with leviesover what the president claimed was their failure to stem the flow of illicit fentanyl and other drugs into the U.S.

No president before Mr. Trump had used IEEPA to impose tariffs, and the law does not use that word or others like it, such as duty, levy or tax.

All six of the justices who were in the majority agreed that IEEPA does not give the president the power to impose levies.

"Our task today is to decide only whether the power to 'regulate … importation,' as granted to the president in IEEPA, embraces the power to impose tariffs," Roberts wrote for the majority. "It does not."

756.07 KBThe Supreme Court's decision in Learning Resources v. TrumpThe Supreme Court struck down President Trump's authority to impose broad tariffs under an emergency powers law.

The court said tariffs are different from the other authorities laid out in IEEPA and, unlike those, they "operate directly on domestic importers to raise revenue for the Treasury." The majority said that under the government's interpretation of the phrase "regulate … importation," the president could impose duties "of unlimited amount and duration, on any product from any country."

"When Congress grants the power to impose tariffs, it does so clearly and with careful constraints," Roberts wrote in a portion of his decision joined by the other five colleagues in the majority. "It did neither here."

While the six justices agreed that the president does not have the authority to impose tariffs under IEEPA, there were notable divisions over their reasoning.

Major questions doctrine

The three conservative justices — Roberts, Gorsuch and Barrett — applied what's known as the major questions doctrine, which says that broad assertions of power claimed by the executive on issues of political or economic significance must be clearly authorized by Congress.

The Supreme Court's conservative wing has relied on that doctrine in past cases testing the legality of major policies from the executive branch, including when itstruck downPresident Joe Biden's student loan forgiveness plan andblocked an eviction moratoriumduring the COVID-19 pandemic.

Only Gorsuch and Barrett joined the section of Roberts' opinion that invoked the major questions doctrine.

The president, Roberts wrote, "must 'point to clear congressional authorization' to justify his extraordinary assertion of power to impose tariffs. He cannot."

Congress would not be expected to "relinquish its tariff power through vague language" or without constraints, the chief justice wrote.

"When Congress has delegated its tariff powers, it has done so in explicit terms, and subject to strict limits," Roberts said.

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He also said that the economic and political consequences of the tariffs implemented under IEEPA are "astonishing."

"The Government points to projections that the tariffs will reduce the national deficit by $4 trillion, and that international agreements reached in reliance on the tariffs could be worth $15 trillion," Roberts wrote. "In the President's view, whether 'we are a rich nation' or a 'poor' one hangs in the balance. These stakes dwarf those of other major questions cases."

Statutory interpretation

On the other side of the majority, the liberal justices — Sotomayor, Kagan and Jackson — agreed that IEEPA doesn't give the president the power to impose tariffs, but reached the conclusion using what Kagan said were the "ordinary tools of statutory interpretation."

"IEEPA gives the President significant authority over transactions involving foreign property, including the importation of goods. But in that generous delegation, one power is conspicuously missing," Kagan wrote in a concurring opinion joined by Sotomayor and Jackson. "Nothing in IEEPA's text, nor anything in its context, enables the President to unilaterally impose tariffs. And needless to say, without statutory authority, the President's tariffs cannot stand."

All six of the justices in the majority agreed that IEEPA is silent on the power to impose tariffs, and no president before Mr. Trump understood the law to authorize duties.

"Each president read the statutes as Congress wrote them, with IEEPA enabling him to regulate imports and Title 19 enabling him — in confined situations — to tax those foreign goods," Kagan wrote, referring to the portion of the U.S. Code that covers customs duties. "None, as far as anyone has suggested, even considered doing otherwise."

The dissenters

The principal dissent came from Kavanaugh, who wrote that the president's authority under IEEPA to "regulate … importation" encompasses tariffs. There is a long tradition of presidents imposing duties as a way of regulating importation and commerce, he said. Thomas and Alito joined his dissent.

"Like quotas and embargoes, tariffs are a traditional and common tool to regulate importation," Kavanaugh said.

He wrote that IEEPA allows the president to impose quotas or embargoes on foreign imports, which he said are more severe tools than tariffs. The law, he said, does not draw distinctions between those actions and instead "empowers the president to regulate imports during national emergencies with the tools presidents have traditionally and commonly used, including quotas, embargoes, and tariffs."

Regarding the major questions doctrine, Kavanaugh said it is satisfied in this case because the "statutory text, history and precedent constitute 'clear congressional authorization' for the president to impose levies under IEEPA." Plus, presidents throughout history have imposed tariffs as a way to "regulate … importation," he continued.

Kavanaugh also argued that the Supreme Court has never applied the major questions doctrine to matters of foreign affairs, including foreign trade.

"In foreign affairs cases, courts read the statute as written and do not employ the major questions doctrine as a thumb on the scale against the president," Kavanaugh said.

He noted, however, that the ruling may not significantly constrain a president's ability to set tariffs moving forward, since there are many other statutes that can be used to justify the tariffs at issue in the case.

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The siblings grew up with their parents among the Cypress trees and grassy horse fields in a rural area outside West Palm Beach. She was in kindergarten when he was born.

Virginiacalled him Skydy Bump, or just Skydy. He was named after their father.

Epstein abuse survivor Danielle Bensky holds up a photo of her younger self during a news conference with lawmakers on the Epstein Files Transparency Act outside the U.S. Capitol on November 18, 2025 in Washington, DC. The House is expected to vote today on the legislation, which instructs the U.S. Department of Justice to release all files related to the late accused sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein.

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Alleged victims of Jeffrey Epstein rally at Capitol Hill to demand release of files

Epstein abuse survivor Danielle Bensky holds up a photo of her younger self during a news conference with lawmakers onthe Epstein Files Transparency Actoutside the U.S. Capitol on November 18, 2025 in Washington, DC.The House is expected to vote today on the legislation, which instructs the U.S. Department of Justice to release all files related to the late accused sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein.

His crib was in her room, and Virginia, who later became a key voice drawing the world's attention to the Jeffrey Epstein sex trafficking allegations, later wrote that "I felt as if he were my baby." When he woke in the night, she comforted him.

They looked out for each other.

When their parents walked around with beer cans in their hands, she carried him.

And when Sky and Virginia were playing in a backyard sandpit one day, her little brother tugged on her T-shirt, pointing toward a snake. She grabbed him and ran to the house.

Her mom said she's saved his life. It was a deadly water moccasin.

Now Sky Roberts is trying his best to stand up for his big sister.Virginia Roberts Giuffre, who later wrote a memoir, said she was trafficked to engage in sex withPrince Andrew, who has since been stripped of that title by the royal family, when she was a teenager. She later became one of the most outspoken people reporting they'd been sexually abused by Epstein and his longtime friend Andrew, the former Duke of York.

More:Jeffrey Epstein victimized 1,000 women and children. His survivors have a message.

A day after Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor, as he's now known, was arrested on suspicion of misconduct in public office, the pride Sky Roberts holds for his sister is difficult to hide.

"We're seeing her as a truthteller, and I'm happy the world is seeing that, too," Roberts said Feb. 19 in a CBS interview. "It shows we have more work to do."

In her memoir"Nobody's Girl," Roberts Giuffre describes how she was effectively Epstein's sex slave for two years and how the then-prince raped her when she was 17. The book was published in October 2025, six months after she died by suicide. Mountbatten-Windsor has not been charged with a related sex crime and Epstein died awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges.

But the book also tells the story of a southern Florida childhood – of homemade bike ramps and treehouses, ponds with snapping turtles and a goat named Cordelius, and a love for her little brother who called her "Sissie."

Five years older, she protected him when their parents were fighting, covering his ears, and she shielded him from abuse at the hands of their father.

Sky Roberts later stood by her when she accused Prince Andrew, once second in line to the throne, of abuse. He supported his sister as she told her story over and over, even when people dismissed and disparaged her.

Since her death, he's stood with otherEpstein accusersas they testified before Congress in 2025. Giuffre Roberts became a lightning rod to many people who said they'd been abused or trafficked by Epstein and his associateGhislaine Maxwell.

Andrew, who was stripped of his titles in 2025 and settled a civil suit with Giuffre Roberts in 2022, did not admit to wrongdoing and he hasn't been arrested for sex crimes. The former prince's arrest came after he'd faced intense scrutiny over his friendship with Epstein. Previous reports show Mountbatten-Windsor may haveimproperly shared government documentswith the convicted sex offender.

Taking all this in, Sky Roberts told CBS News,"It shows we have more work to do."

'No one is above the law, not even royalty'

Sky Roberts woke up to a phone call at 3 a.m. on Feb. 19.

His first thought: It's bad news.

"You're always worried when you get a phone call that early in the morning," he told NPR on Feb. 19.

It was Dini von Mueffling, one of his sister's closest friends and her publicist.

Andrew had been arrested.

Sky told his wife, Amanda Roberts, who jumped out of bed.

"It was a huge moment," Amanda Roberts told NPR. "It was a moment of celebratory victory."

By 5 a.m., the couple gave their first TV interview.

Then at breakfast, Roberts broke down.

"I just bawled," he told NPR. "It's very important that we don't forget how hard these survivors and the survivors' sisters have been pushing, that we wouldn't be here today without Virginia."

By 8 a.m., Sky and his wife, and his older brother Danny and Lanette Wilson, released a statement.

"At last. Today, our broken hearts have been lifted at the news that no one is above the law, not even royalty. On behalf of our sister, Virginia Roberts Giuffre, we extend our gratitude to the UK's Thames Valley Police for their investigation and arrest of Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor. He was never a prince. For survivors everywhere, Virginia did this for you."

More:Epstein pulled strings, paid tuition across world for kids of powerful

Sky and his wife spent the day sharing their thoughts with reporters from CNN and CBS News, the BBC and NBC. They wore blue and silver butterfly pins, a symbol adopted by Epstein accusers to represent hope, resilience and support for victims.

They recounted how they were roused from bed, how they'd gone through a range of emotions.

"A bit of shock hits you at that moment," Amanda Roberts told CBS News. "We celebrated in that moment, and we were just like awestruck. Usually, we (could) call (Roberts Giuffre) on the phone and jump up and down and just tell her how proud we are of her tenacity and courage."

What's important now, Sky Roberts told NPR, is that people "acknowledge the survivors and what they went through."

Pushing back on abuse

Sky Roberts always knew his big sister looked after him.

She carried him, even as his toddler legs dangled alongside hers.

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By 6, she said,their father began abusing her, coming in during the night to her room. In a statement included in her memoir, he denies the abuse.

"He told me I was his special girl, his favorite, and that this was his way of giving me extra love," she wrote in her memoir.

She pushed back. Her father, she wrote, threatened to take away her horse Alice.

Soon her dad was sending her to his friend's house, where the friend abused her, too, she wrote.

Roberts Giuffre wrote about how her mother seemed jealous of her father's closeness with her. When her parents fought, Roberts Giuffre would huddle with her little brother, covering his ears. She was 11. He was 6.

Her mother sent her to live with an aunt in California and later to a facility for troubled teens. When she returned, she wrote, it wasn't her parents she had missed.

"I think of Skydy, running out the back door, the screen slamming shut as he flung himself into my arms," she wrote of her return home.

Book recalls Epstein's threat to harm her brother

At 16, Roberts Giuffre got a job as a locker room attendant at a nearby resort,Mar-a-Lago,where her father was a maintenance man.

Just before she turned 17, she met Epstein andMaxwell. Maxwell was later sentenced to prison for sex trafficking. Epstein died by suicide in 2019 while awaiting trial on similar allegations.

She didn't tell her family when Epstein began abusing her, she wrote.

She writes in her memoir that the abuse began when she was interviewing for a job as a masseuse: "My body couldn't escape this room, but my mind couldn't bear to stay, so it put me on kind of autopilot: submissive and determined to survive."

The massages led to sex with Epstein and the men he trafficked her to, she wrote.

She thought about trying to leave. That's when Epstein handed her a grainy photograph, she wrote.

"It was unmistakably my little brother. Skydy."

Virginia Giuffre memoir on alleged abuse by Prince Andrew coming months after her death.

"We know where your brother goes to school," Epstein told her. "You must never tell a soul what goes on in this house."

Her brother was 12.

"I had no choice. I believed, but to accept that and make the best of it – for Skydy's sake, if not my own."

'Don't ever walk away with my kids again'

Roberts didn't know the lengths his sister had gone to protect him until they were adults.

He and his then-girlfriend, who would become his wife, lived with Roberts Giuffre and her husband and three young children in 2013 in Florida.

Even then, he called her "Sissie."

Within a year, she and Roberts and her oldest brother, Danny Wilson, their mother's child from a previous relationship, all lived close.

The siblings all had children, three little girls among them. Roberts Giuffre kept her daughter from spending time alone with her father.

She decided she needed to tell her brothers why.

"My brothers didn't know to take those precautions because I'd never told them what Dad had done to me, she wrote.

At first, she wrote, neither brother wanted to believe her.

"By the end of the night, all of us were in tears," she wrote.

Wilson confronted his stepdad.

Then Roberts confronted his father, who had taken his daughter alone to a Tampa Buccaneers game.

"Don't ever walk away with my kids again," he said, according to Roberts Giuffre's memoir. "And you know why, right?" he told his father.

'There's only one of us telling the truth'

Roberts saw how hard his sister pushed, even when no one seemed to believe her.

Roberts Giuffre often said this: "He knows what he did. I know what he did and there's only one of us telling the truth. And I know that's me."

Her brother holds on to that now.

He remembers how she was able to create a beautiful life with three children, even through her struggles.

Now he says we need to move beyond acknowledging survivors.

"We need to see action from our DOJ," he told NPR. "I think what we're asking for is that this administration needs to stop protecting the predators and the pedophiles."

While Roberts prepares to make comments to the media after President Donald Trump's State of the Union address scheduled for Feb. 24, he wants to remind people it's not about politics. He and his wife will attend as guests of Democratic Reps. Jamie Raskin and Suhas Subramanyam, to honor the work Roberts Giuffre did in bringing Epstein's crimes to light.

"This is a human issue. We have to work politics through it because our laws are broken. They are broken for survivors of sexual abuse," Roberts said to CBS. "This generation deserves better."

Laura Trujillo is a national columnist focusing on health and wellness. She is the author of "Stepping Back from the Ledge: A Daughter's Search for Truth and Renewal" and can be reached at ltrujillo@usatoday.com.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY:Sky Roberts seeks justice for his sister Virginia Roberts Giuffre

NEED TO KNOW

• On an episode of The SHE Word podcast, Miss Universe Malta titleholder Julia Ann Cluett reflected on the sacrifices she made to win her national pageant and compete at Miss Universe

• Cluett shared that she was laid off from her job two days before she was crowned Miss Universe Malta in July 2025

• Between her duties as a national winner and her participation on the international stage in November, Cluett said she was without income for a total of seven months

Miss Universe Malta winnerJulia Ann Cluettis pulling back the curtain on the not-so-glamorous side of preparing to take a pageant stage.

Cluett was one of three beauty queens who appeared on an episode ofThe SHE Wordpodcast on Thursday, Feb. 19. Host Sasha Vella also welcomed Ella Gatt Baldacchino, who won Miss Universe Malta in 2023, and Miss Grand International Malta Shailey Micallef.

The group discussed a variety of issues and topics associated with their experiences, including struggles with body image and balancing pageantry with personal and career pursuits. At one point, Vella asked the women about what they feel people don't see from the outside looking in.

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Cluett was quick to list time, effort, dedication and money as things contestants need to have and give to be competitive on a pageant stage. She referenced her own circumstances in July 2025, when she was laid off from her job shortly before winning her national preliminary for Miss Universe, which was held months later.

"I was made redundant two days before the Miss Universe Malta competition," Cluett recounted. "I was even in the process of looking for and getting an apartment at the time, so I lost everything."

She added, "I won Miss Universe Malta, and I'm super, super grateful, don't get me wrong, but there were a lot of things that were ... on my checklist of what I wanted to do that I lost."

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Cluett said she remained unemployed for another seven months while preparing to compete at the international level. The titleholder explained that she wasn't able to find work as she fulfilled her commitments, first to her reign as Miss Universe Malta, which required her to travel on tour, then to represent the country atMiss Universe in Thailandfor three weeks in November.

"What company is going to be like, 'Yes, of course, start with us, and then in September, you leave for two weeks, and then leave for another three weeks in November, it's totally fine.' No one wanted to do that," said Cluett, who has experience working as a psychologist. "I ended up having to sacrifice my job, an apartment, an income in order to be Miss Universe Malta."

The mental health advocate says she didn't take the decision to proceed lightly. Cluett ended up having a notably successful run in Thailand, where she was one of the top 12 finalists from around the world.

She was also named Miss Universe Europe and Middle East, but she still remembers the difficult lead-up to the competition.

"There were a lot of moments where I was like, 'How am I going to do this? How am I going to get through this?' But you have to," Cluett said on the podcast.

Despite all the challenges, Cluett never considered relinquishing her national title and spot at Miss Universe.

"I was like, 'I'm never going to get this opportunity again,'" Cluett reflected. "It was my time."

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