By Leah Asmelash, NCS
(NCS) — On Tuesday of final week, CBS News introduced a slate of 19 new contributors, a part of ongoing efforts by its lately put in editor-in-chief, Bari Weiss, to revamp the community’s public profile. Among the names — “all experts in their fields,” as CBS put it — was Dr. Peter Attia, a star doctor specializing in longevity drugs.
Three days later, the Department of Justice launched a brand new trove of paperwork from the Jeffrey Epstein information, which included a pleasant and salacious correspondence between Attia and the convicted sexual predator. In one significantly crude response, Attia wrote: “P*ssy is, indeed, low-carb. Still awaiting results on gluten content, though.”
Some of Attia’s fans have expressed disgust for the reason that emails had been made public. One fan on Reddit, who stated they realized “a lot” from Attia’s work over time, known as him a “morally bankrupt, social climbing, Egomaniac.” Attia’s most up-to-date Instagram publish was flooded with offended replies, together with one from an influencer and retired nurse which read “YOU HAVE A DAUGHTER.” Another from a former follower stated: “Wish I could get back every penny I spent on your book and recommending you to people. You make me sick.”
Attia has a small, if costly, medical observe, known as Early Medical, with a waitlist for sufferers to affix. As of 2025, he advised CBS’ “60 Minutes” he noticed fewer than 75 sufferers. He didn’t disclose the precise value of his providers, simply that he charged “closer to $100,000 than $500,000.”
But his curiosity in lengthening life has made him a outstanding title in the previous couple of years. His appearances have included spots on “The Joe Rogan Experience” and on NCS International, the place he was interviewed by Becky Anderson about how expertise is altering well being. He was additionally interviewed by Oprah, the place the 2 chatted about “living better for longer.” That video, which had been viewable earlier this week on YouTube, is now not publicly accessible.
And earlier than Weiss took over at CBS News, he spoke together with her for her podcast, “Honestly.” In that interview, Weiss stated Attia “consistently cuts through all that noise” within the well being and wellness trade.
In a press release posted to X on Monday, Attia stated he “was not involved in any criminal activity,” had “nothing to do with (Epstein’s) sexual abuse or exploitation of anyone,” and he was by no means “present at any sex parties.” Attia has not been accused of any wrongdoing.
“To be clear, I never witnessed illegal behavior and never saw anyone who appeared underage in his presence,” he wrote.
As of Tuesday, CBS News has reportedly pulled a deliberate rebroadcast of a “60 Minutes” section that includes Attia from October that was anticipated to air in opposition to the Super Bowl, The Guardian first reported. The community can be probably weighing Attia’s dismissal, TheWrap reported.
Attia and CBS News didn’t reply to NCS’s requests for remark.
From residency dropout to bestseller
In the previous couple of years, Attia has turn out to be a family title for these interested in longevity drugs, the science behind extending one’s lifespan whereas defending well being and vigor. He calls his program “Medicine 3.0” — which he says makes use of medical expertise to struggle power ailments related to growing older earlier than their onset, specializing in prevention relatively than remedy.
Before he grew to become a scientific well being guru to the rich, Attia graduated from Stanford University’s School of Medicine and skilled at Johns Hopkins Hospital as a resident on the whole surgical procedure. But he give up residency in 2006 with two years left, in line with his 2025 “60 Minutes” look, and went to work for the consulting agency McKinsey & Company.
He opened his personal personal observe in 2014 and targeted on preventative drugs and longevity. He constructed out his model by running a blog, with articles like “Is sugar toxic?,” and posting early YouTube movies targeted on physique weight workouts and correct type. In 2023, he shot to mainstream fame with his guide “Outlive: The Science & Art of Longevity,” a bestseller that touts methods to lengthen one’s lifespan earlier than ailments similar to Alzheimer’s, most cancers or kind 2 diabetes strike.
That guide, co-authored with Bill Gifford, has sold more than 3 million copies. Now, Attia has greater than 3 million followers mixed throughout X, Instagram and YouTube, and has drawn the pursuits of high-profile names like billionaire Bill Ackman and Hollywood elites Hugh Jackman and Gwyneth Paltrow.
Attia’s signature strategy includes discussing science in deep element. In latest episodes of his podcast, “The Peter Attia Drive,” which run almost two hours apiece, he brings in different medical doctors or accredited well being researchers to debate matters like seed oils versus saturated fat, going into the histories of every fats and explaining the related research, and examined what analysis has stated about whether or not Tylenol has any results on being pregnant.
Though these are sizzling matters among the many Trump administration’s “Make America Healthy Again” motion, Attia avoids sweeping claims in favor of measured conclusions. In the case of Tylenol and being pregnant, for instance, he described the prospect that taking acetaminophen would trigger a baby to develop autism, as Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has warned in opposition to, as a “low-probability event.”
Still, his give attention to train and self-optimization has made him fashionable within the bro-first precincts of the “manosphere.”
Associations with Epstein
In his assertion, Attia stated he met Epstein in 2014 whereas elevating funds for scientific analysis – a standard observe for Epstein, who had ties throughout academia. Between 2014 and 2019, the 2 met on “approximately seven or eight occasions” at Epstein’s dwelling in New York, he wrote.
Attia’s title seems many occasions within the Epstein information launched on Friday, together with in emails that cowl scheduling visits, telephone calls, again ache and an unspecified “little ‘situation’” Attia sought recommendation about. Throughout the emails, Attia seems in awe of Epstein, making an attempt to make plans to speak or go to.
In one email thread, from 2015 with the topic line “Got a fresh shipment,” Epstein replies “me too” with the connected picture redacted. The change continues:
Attia: “Please tell you found that picture on line…bastard”
Epstein: “fraid not”
Attia: “You the biggest problem with becoming friends with you? The life you lead is so outrageous, and yet I can’t tell a soul.”
In his assertion, Attia stated the “fresh shipment” was bottles of metformin, a drugs he’d acquired. Epstein’s response included a photograph of an grownup lady, Attia acknowledged, and what adopted was “crude, tasteless banter.” He known as the change, “very embarrassing, and I will not defend it.”
He additionally borrowed an house from Epstein in 2016, writing to Epstein’s assistant: “I go into JE withdrawal when I don’t see him…”
Later that very same 12 months, he wrote directly to Epstein: “I miss you!” and “Maybe I need to visit you” in Palm Beach. In a separate electronic mail, he wrote about Epstein’s personal island, saying “I need to visit some time…” In his assertion, Attia stated he by no means went to Epstein’s island.
Then got here the “P*ssy is, indeed, low carb” line, additionally sent in 2016.
“I apologize and regret putting myself in a position where emails, some of them embarrassing, tasteless, and indefensible, are now public,” Attia stated in his assertion.
Some content material, like the e-mail referencing a vagina, “is disturbing,” wrote Dr. Jen Gunter, an Ob/gyn, on Substack, “and well outside anything most physicians would consider appropriate to email someone required to register as a sex offender because they had coerced a minor into prostitution.”
Attia has stepped down from his function as chief science officer at David Protein, a preferred model of protein bars, its CEO Peter Rahal said on X. AG1, a powdered complement model, additionally now not employs Attia as an adviser to the corporate, in line with a press release.
In his Monday assertion, Attia stated he was “nauseated” when he learn the November 2018 Miami Herald article concerning the systemic protections offered to Epstein when federal prosecutors gave him a nonprosecution settlement in 2008, in change for pleading responsible to prostitution prices in Florida state court docket. He advised Epstein he wanted to take accountability, in line with his assertion, and insisted that Epstein fund the care the victims would want.
According to the information, lower than per week after the story’s publication, Attia spoke with Epstein in an electronic mail thread titled “are you in FL?” After mentioning work stresses, Attia asked, “What is fallout from recent story?” There was no response from Epstein included in that sequence of emails.
“I am not asking for a pass from you. I am not asking anyone to ignore the emails or pretend they aren’t ugly. They simply are,” Attia wrote in his assertion Monday. “The man I am today, roughly ten years later, would not write them and would not associate with Epstein at all. Whatever growth I’ve had over the past decade does not erase the emails I wrote then.”
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