Until recently, Peter Attia was best known as a wellness influencer and a newly appointed contributor at CBS. He hosts a popular podcast, boasts more than 1.6 million Instagram followers, and wrote a best-selling book about longevity.
That image cracked this week when it was revealed that Attia’s name appears more than 1,700 times in the latest Epstein files release.
As the emails circulated on social media, longtime followers of his methods, along with medical professionals, reacted with outrage.
“Peter Attia being Epstein’s concierge doctor is by far the weirdest crossover,” one X user wrote. Another one X user quipped: “Peter Attia’s stress level right now must be entirely undoing whatever longevity gains he has enjoyed.”
Others said the revelations were not surprising. “The Peter Attia stuff is sad but not surprising,” author Brad Stulberg posted on X. “The entire health, performance, and longevity space is filled with narcissistic sociopathic grifters.”
“Why are people surprised that someone who dropped out of residency, worked for an international consultancy firm, pretended to cry on TED stage, and charges over $100K/year for concierge “longevity” medicine…turned out to be unsavory?” another medical professional wrote. “Some of y’all will never learn.”
Some zeroed in on new context around Attia’s own prior admission, detailed in his book, that he failed to be at his wife’s side when his son fell seriously ill. “As his baby son lay in ICU, Peter Attia told his wife that he was too busy with “important work” in NYC to fly home to see him,” one X user noted. “He was with Jeffery Epstein.”
The released correspondence shows Attia maintaining a friendly and at times flippant tone with Epstein. In one message dated June 24, 2015, Attia wrote: “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 perhaps the most gratuitous email, Attia joked about the carb content of performing a sexual act.
In July 2016, Attia asked Epstein what he was doing in Palm Beach, where Epstein allegedly sexually abused underage girls during the 2000s. “Guess,” Epstein replied. Attia answered: “Besides that.”
Attia’s regular correspondence with Epstein continued years after Epstein pled guilty to soliciting prostitution from a minor. In a lengthy X post addressing the emails on Monday, Attia said he questioned Epstein about those charges and claimed Epstein “grossly minimized” them.
Attia has since stepped down as chief science officer of David Protein, the company confirmed Monday. CBS editor in chief Bari Weiss has also faced public calls to cut ties after Attia was named among 19 new CBS News contributors just days before the emails were made public.
Attia said on X that he “never witnessed illegal behavior and never saw anyone who appeared underage” in Epstein’s presence. He added that he “was never on his plane, never on his island, and never present at any sex parties.”
Other released emails show Attia saying that he goes “into JE withdrawal when I don’t see him” and suggesting that he hoped to one day go to Epstein’s private island. “I need to visit some time,” Attia wrote.