With the Ghislaine Maxwell trial in full swing, I was reminded of the many connections between Jeffrey Epstein and various Hollywood people. That, of course, got me thinking about Peggy Siegal, the NYC event planner and awards-season publicist whose entanglements with Epstein spilled into public when he was arrested and jailed in 2019. After Epstein’s previous incarceration for soliciting a prostitute, Siegal had facilitated her friend’s return to elite entertainment circles via invites to her star-studded events. So when the toxic connections were made public, Siegal became persona non grata among the studios that once hired her during Oscar season. One of New York’s most public people essentially went into hiding.

But two years and one pandemic later, someone sent me a Peggy sighting from Searchlight’s Nightmare Alley premiere at Lincoln Center last week. She was also spotted at Amazon’s Being the Ricardos event as a guest of her longtime pal, journalist Roger Friedman. That led me to wonder, is Peggy Siegal back? And if so, are studios working with her this season?