Jeffrey Epstein went to a New York City publicist a few years ago begging for help with his image — telling the society-page ace, “I don’t want ‘billionaire pervert’ to be the first line of my obituary.”

The publicist, R. Couri Hay, recounted the bizarre meeting and a later one with Epstein to The Post on Tuesday, saying he had plenty of suggestions to try to help the convicted pedophile’s image.

Hay said he told Epstein to go to a mental-health facility for a year or live with a life coach who addresses sex addiction.

“I presented the sheet of the 12 steps, and I said, ‘You’re not an alcohol addict, you’re not a drug addict, but you are a sex addict in a very perverse way, and you need to go through these steps,” Hay said he told Epstein.

“I could have told him to commit suicide but that wouldn’t have been very constructive.”

Then there was the possibility of signing Warren Buffett’s and Bill and Melinda Gates’ Giving Pledge, which would require Epstein to donate most of his millions of dollars to charity, including up to $50 million a year while he was still alive.

Hay even suggested that Epstein meet Pope Francis as a way to show the public he was seeking forgiveness for his sins.

“He listened to everything,’’ with little reaction, Hay said. “Jeffrey has a poker face.’’

The only thing that Epstein showed any emotion over was Hay’s possible price, the publicist said, noting that the former businessman balked.

“I told him, ‘PR is a luxury item,” Hay said. “And he said, ‘You mean, Couri, you’re a luxury item,’ and we both laughed.”

But Hay, 70, said that even he knew that his suggestions would never be enough to reform Epstein in the public’s eye.

“I was giving a theoretical plan for someone who is clearly guilty,’’ Hay said. “I told Jeffrey the only person who could forgive him is God. I also suggested he go to his rabbi.”

Hay added, “For me, it was always about the story. A lot of people much smarter than me took Jeffrey’s calls and accepted his invitations, I was always curious.”

Their first meeting took place three years ago in Epstein’s Upper East Side mansion, where Epstein is now accused of trafficking underage girls and young women for sex crimes. They then met again this year.

Then “he called me three weeks ago and said something was going on and that he would be ready to do it in September,” Hay said.

Hay said he has yet to hear back from Epstein, who was arrested July 6.

But the publicist insisted said he would never have worked with him.

“I had no intention of representing Epstein. But if he’d fallen down on his knees and said, ‘Call the pope,’ who knows what might have happened?

“I felt he was in denial,” Hay added. “I felt he wasn’t ready to make amends.”

Now, “he doesn’t need to call me. He needs to call the greatest lawyer in the world,” Hay said.