In a Netflix documentary launched in January, Bryan Johnson, a tech entrepreneur turned longevity guru, walked individuals by his morning routine. After monitoring his sleep, he would get up early to conduct audio remedy and hair remedy, do an hour of train and take 54 totally different capsules with a drink known as “the inexperienced big,” he stated.
Mr. Johnson additionally talked about his long-life start-up, Blueprint, which sells well being dietary supplements, blood-testing gear and different merchandise tied to his private weight-reduction plan and suggestions.
“By doing Blueprint, one of many key goals is to realize the bottom attainable organic age,” he declared. He added that his well being routine had “reversed my organic age 5.1 years.”
The Netflix function was a breakout second in Mr. Johnson’s five-year marketing campaign to change into the face of one in all Silicon Valley’s most oddball fascinations: the pursuit of eternal youth. The 47-year-old former Mormon missionary has change into identified for experimenting on his personal physique to defy growing old, charming the media and his almost 4 million social media followers by receiving the blood plasma of his then-17-year-old son and repeatedly stunning his penis to extend his erections.
His fame has additionally appeared to catapult Blueprint to success. In January, Mr. Johnson hailed his start-up as “one of many fastest-growing corporations on this planet, fueled by phrase of mouth.”
However away from the cameras, his fastidiously curated profile and Blueprint’s enterprise are beginning to present cracks — particularly with a brewing struggle over Mr. Johnson’s use of a authorized doc: confidentiality agreements.
For almost a decade, Mr. Johnson has wielded confidentiality agreements to regulate his picture and the businesses he constructed atop that picture. His workers, sexual companions, distributors and contract employees have all needed to signal the paperwork, typically in change for settlements, severance or continued employment at his corporations, in accordance with individuals near him and his start-ups, inside paperwork and courtroom data.
Now these agreements, which had been supposed to maintain individuals silent on Mr. Johnson’s private life and companies, are backfiring as a few of his employees band collectively to problem them.
At the very least three of Mr. Johnson’s former workers — together with a former fiancée who labored for him — have not too long ago filed complaints with the Nationwide Labor Relations Board, a federal watchdog company, about his confidentiality agreements. They stated the phrases they signed had been “overbroad” and accused Mr. Johnson of violating federal legal guidelines that shield employees who wish to discuss their office circumstances, in accordance with copies of two of the complaints and 6 individuals with information of them.
Individuals near Mr. Johnson and Blueprint have more and more chafed on the agreements because the start-up has confronted mounting monetary and product-quality questions that some thought must be made public, former workers and others with information of the corporate stated.
Oliver Zolman, Mr. Johnson’s longtime longevity physician, who was featured within the Netflix documentary, quietly left Blueprint final 12 months after having issues about a few of its well being dietary supplements, the individuals stated. Final fall, Mr. Johnson additionally advised Blueprint executives that the corporate was operating out of cash.
Mr. Johnson’s objective was “to make use of these contractual agreements to maintain everybody quiet,” and that effort “sort of was a home of playing cards,” stated Matt Bruenig, the lawyer for the previous workers who filed the N.L.R.B complaints.
Jamie Contento, who was Mr. Johnson’s private assistant and who filed one of many N.L.R.B. complaints, stated she “positively felt coerced into signing the agreements” as a result of she thought she would lose her job if she didn’t achieve this.
The New York Occasions interviewed 30 individuals near Mr. Johnson and his start-ups, together with present and former workers. Many spoke on the situation of anonymity as a result of they had been sure by the confidentiality phrases and feared retaliation from Mr. Johnson. The Occasions additionally reviewed copies of the agreements, courtroom data, inside paperwork, photographs and the N.L.R.B. complaints.
Mr. Johnson declined to reply many questions from The Occasions. In a publish on X earlier than this text was printed, he stated confidentiality agreements “attempt to create clear boundaries and expectations, in order that belief isn’t left to probability.”
After The Occasions contacted Mr. Johnson, he privately pushed individuals in his orbit to abide by the agreements, individuals accustomed to his outreach stated. One authorized letter despatched final month reminded a former worker that they had been “strictly prohibited from utilizing, disclosing or misappropriating any confidential, proprietary or commerce secret data belonging to the corporate or Bryan R. Johnson,” in accordance with a replica.
Publicly, Mr. Johnson targeted on different issues. This month, he introduced his personal faith, which is called after his longevity slogan, “Don’t Die.” It will save the human race, he stated.
Everlasting life
Mr. Johnson based the funds firm Braintree in 2007 and have become a multimillionaire when PayPal purchased the start-up in 2013. He quickly shed his Mormon roots and started a part of exploration.
Mr. Johnson divorced his spouse, with whom he has three kids, and left the Mormon Church. He employed prostitutes, in accordance with buddies, former workers and courtroom paperwork, and took medication together with acid, Ibogaine and DMT.
Mr. Johnson has not publicly addressed his use of acid, however is a proponent of psychedelics like DMT and has the form of its chemical construction tattooed on his arm.
He additionally began utilizing confidentiality agreements. The phrases mandated that folks couldn’t converse publicly about his escapades, or discuss to their buddies or household about him.
In 2016, Mr. Johnson based Kernel, a mind know-how start-up. He had turned down the prospect to determine an analogous firm with Elon Musk, who created his personal such agency, Neuralink.
Mr. Johnson more and more fixated on his repute, in accordance with former buddies and workers, and puzzled why he was not getting as a lot publicity as Mr. Musk. He turned extra to confidentiality agreements. In 2020, he required a date to signal one earlier than the 2 used acid collectively, two former buddies stated. She signed however left early, incensed by the settlement.
The confidentiality phrases had been usually connected to broader employment agreements at Mr. Johnson’s enterprise. On the time, a Kernel worker settlement with confidentiality clauses was 4 and a half pages lengthy, with few specifics about what employees couldn’t discuss.
However as Mr. Johnson transitioned into the longevity trade and targeted on his well being, shedding greater than 50 kilos, the phrases mushroomed. The change was pushed partly by the founding of Blueprint, a start-up at Mr. Johnson’s Los Angeles residence, in 2021 to promote well being merchandise to his legions of death-averse followers. (He stepped down from Kernel in 2023 however stays on the board.)
Blueprint’s model is tied to Mr. Johnson’s picture, with pop-ups of his face selling the Netflix documentary and dietary supplements known as “Bryan’s favorites” listed on the market on the web site. “He’s the healthiest particular person on the planet,” Blueprint’s web site claims.
By final 12 months, a Blueprint employment settlement with confidentiality phrases was 20 pages lengthy and listed dozens of restrictions.
Amongst them: Staff should hold confidential “any nonpublic data relating to Bryan’s residence, workplace, private results in his residence or workplace, any areas rented or owned by Bryan, any autos/planes/cars/boats/different strategies of transportation that aren’t publicly accessible, or areas of his residence or such house that aren’t publicly accessible,” in accordance with a replica.
In his X publish, Mr. Johnson stated the agreements “have developed, identical to every part else I iterate & enhance upon.” He added, “The objective is precision.”
Workers at Blueprint, which has a employees of about 30, typically needed to signal as many as three separate agreements. That’s atypical for worker agreements, in accordance with authorized specialists.
One was an uncommon “opt-in” doc, which isn’t a confidentiality contract however goals to guard the corporate from potential lawsuits over what workers may witness within the office.
Below that settlement, workers needed to attest that they had been OK with Mr. Johnson’s sporting “little and typically no clothes/no underwear” and with listening to “discussions of sexual actions, together with erections,” in accordance with a replica. Additionally they needed to agree that Mr. Johnson’s habits was not “unwelcome, offensive, humiliating, hostile, triggering, unprofessional or abusive.”
The opt-in settlement was “truthful to all involved and is in everybody’s finest curiosity,” Mr. Johnson posted on X.
Many rich people and firms use confidentiality agreements. However Cliff Palefsky, an employment lawyer in San Francisco, stated some elements of Mr. Johnson’s agreements had been overly broad and unenforceable.
Mr. Johnson and his firm are “relying on individuals being afraid and never violating it as a result of they’re afraid,” stated Mr. Palefsky, who reviewed the paperwork for The Occasions.
Longevity combine
By early final 12 months, some Blueprint workers had been rising pissed off with the confidentiality agreements as the corporate skilled issues, individuals who have labored there stated.
Amongst them had been questions on Blueprint’s well being dietary supplements. The corporate sells a couple of dozen totally different proprietary dietary supplements, together with a $49 “longevity combine,” in accordance with its web site. Dietary supplements are topic to lighter regulation than medicines.
On the time, Mr. Johnson and his management group, together with Dr. Zolman, requested for volunteers to affix a research of the dietary supplements and meals known as “The Blueprint Stack.” The objective was to look at the consequences of the merchandise on individuals’s well being, in accordance with the individuals and inside paperwork considered by The Occasions.
Some executives, together with Dr. Zolman, wished to observe commonplace scientific testing procedures for the research and select customers to check at random, the individuals stated. However Mr. Johnson had clients pay greater than $2,100 to take part, they stated. He promised them he would launch the outcomes by the summer season of 2024.
Of the roughly 1,700 members within the research, about 60 % skilled no less than one facet impact, in accordance with inside emails, spreadsheets and different paperwork. Blood checks revealed that members noticed their testosterone ranges drop and have become prediabetic after following Mr. Johnson’s weight-reduction plan plan. It’s unclear how extreme the uncomfortable side effects had been.
“Longevity combine: Plenty of feedback about hating this as it’s making them sick, vomit, have heartburn, and many others.,” one Blueprint worker wrote to a colleague in February 2024.
Allulose, an ingredient within the longevity combine and a sugar various that Mr. Johnson has pitched to his social media followers, additionally triggered points. “TONS of individuals saying it’s inflicting nausea, bloating,” wrote an worker.
In an e-mail to The Occasions, Mr. Johnson stated the outcomes confirmed “widespread uncomfortable side effects with any meals, beverage or complement.” Blueprint merchandise are at all times improved, he stated, and are examined for security. He added that it was typical in a self-experimentation research to not cowl members’ prices.
Workers felt they may not share the findings due to the confidentiality agreements, in accordance with the emails and textual content messages.
Final summer season, Dr. Zolman left Blueprint after elevating issues in regards to the research’s outcomes, individuals accustomed to his departure stated. He had signed a nondisclosure settlement, however Mr. Johnson wished him to signal one other one in return for a month of severance, they stated. Dr. Zolman declined due to the stringent phrases.
Mr. Johnson didn’t publish the research’s outcomes by the summer season of 2024, as he had advised clients he would. In January, he launched some knowledge for about 300 members, displaying constructive outcomes. The dietary supplements proceed to be bought.
In an e-mail to The Occasions, Mr. Johnson stated metrics about Blueprint’s dietary supplements “transitioned to or stayed within the regular vary all through the whole thing of the research.” He added that Dr. Zolman had resigned “to hunt skilled assist for his severe psychological well being issues,” with out offering proof. Dr. Zolman didn’t go away for these causes, individuals with information of his departure stated.
On the identical time, Blueprint bumped into monetary challenges. Whereas income elevated final 12 months to about $40 million and the corporate has about 40,000 clients, it was falling beneath its break-even level by no less than $1 million a month, individuals with information of the enterprise stated. Mr. Johnson, who had put in $25 million as Blueprint’s sole investor, warned executives that the corporate was operating out of cash. Its present funds are unclear.
This 12 months, a recruiting e-mail described Blueprint as “already worthwhile,” in accordance with a replica of the message.
Mr. Johnson has additionally typically cherry-picked the rosiest metrics for his personal well being experiments, former workers and others stated, significantly to highlight his “organic age,” which refers to how properly his organs and different physique components are functioning.
Within the Netflix documentary, which was largely filmed in 2023, Mr. Johnson stated his organic age had reversed 5.1 years. However the outcomes of a spread of inside research of his well being between January 2022 and February 2024 confirmed it had elevated by as a lot as 10 years, in accordance with charts of the blood take a look at outcomes. It’s unclear what his present checks present.
In an e-mail, Mr. Johnson stated that the “determination to focus on the 5.1 12 months discount was made fully by the documentary’s manufacturing group” and that the statistic got here from an experiment performed in early 2023. He stated “organic age measurements fluctuate” relying on the take a look at and different elements.
‘Simply didn’t really feel proper’
Worker issues flared final spring when Blueprint despatched the opt-in settlement, requiring employees to say they had been OK with many office behaviors. It landed in e-mail inboxes with directions to signal as a traditional course of enterprise.
Many workers signed, however their issues mounted. With Blueprint run from Mr. Johnson’s residence, the road between his private life and enterprise typically was hazy, former workers and others near Mr. Johnson stated.
Throughout workdays, Mr. Johnson continuously walked round with little clothes on, and typically flirted with Blueprint’s largely feminine employees, they stated. However due to the opt-in settlement, nobody felt in a position to complain.
Ms. Contento, who had additionally labored at Kernel, stated she had been at Blueprint for a 12 months when she was requested to signal the opt-in settlement. She agreed as a result of she didn’t wish to lose her job, she stated, however “the doc simply didn’t really feel proper.”
Final fall, Ms. Contento left Blueprint. On the time, she emailed human sources to boost issues in regards to the work surroundings, which she stated “started to vary in ways in which made me really feel uncomfortable,” in accordance with a replica of her message.
“There have been sure skilled boundaries that, from my perspective, appeared to blur over time,” she wrote.
It’s unclear if Blueprint investigated Ms. Contento’s issues. She didn’t signal one other of Mr. Johnson’s confidentiality agreements upon exiting the corporate.
Mr. Johnson stated in an e-mail that Ms. Contento had “raised no materials complaints or issues relating to the work surroundings or her function to my information” whereas at Blueprint.
A name for motion
Whilst issues grew over what Mr. Johnson was saying publicly versus privately, many workers had been afraid to problem him and his confidentiality agreements.
They’d a cautionary story: Taryn Southern.
Ms. Southern, 38, was Mr. Johnson’s former fiancée and an worker of his brain-technology start-up, Kernel. In February 2020, Mr. Johnson fired Ms. Southern from the corporate after breaking apart together with her whereas she had Stage 3 breast most cancers, in accordance with a 2021 lawsuit she filed towards him.
Mr. Johnson had pressured her to signal an employment separation settlement with confidentiality phrases, the lawsuit stated. One model of the confidentiality phrases included a $500,000 penalty every time she broke the principles.
“It’s all he appeared to care about, that settlement,” Ms. Southern stated in her first interview in regards to the expertise.
Many Blueprint workers adopted the developments in Ms. Southern’s lawsuit, through which she contended that Mr. Johnson had breached a promise to pay her $150,000 in change for hire and shifting out of their residence after their breakup.
Mr. Johnson efficiently moved the lawsuit to arbitration. In 2023, an arbitrator dominated that Ms. Southern should adhere to her employment separation settlement, which included phrases that stated she couldn’t sue Mr. Johnson.
He then countersued for his authorized charges, with Ms. Southern ordered to pay greater than $584,000 to him.
Mr. Johnson took the authorized battle public. In 2023, he posted a 16-minute YouTube video saying he was a sufferer of “the darkish underground accusation financial system.” He additionally spoke to Self-importance Truthful for an article that included his relationship with Ms. Southern.
Mr. Johnson adopted on Valentine’s Day 2024 with a 2,400-word publish on X naming Ms. Southern, saying that he feared she would attempt to kill him with a pair of scissors and that his well being routine had saved her from most cancers. It received greater than 500,000 views.
Ms. Southern felt she couldn’t reply due to the confidentiality phrases. (4 individuals near the couple stated that that they had by no means heard Ms. Southern threaten to kill Mr. Johnson and that his well being routine didn’t save her from most cancers.) Her social media accounts and e-mail inbox stuffed with assaults from Mr. Johnson’s followers.
“Most cancers remedy and my termination and every part I needed to undergo — that was all terrible,” stated Ms. Southern, whose most cancers is in remission. “However what felt worse was not having the ability to share the reality once I was being publicly attacked.”
Mr. Johnson has not paid Ms. Southern the $150,000. In his YouTube video, he stated he would arrange a belief so funds from “his accuser” for his authorized charges would go towards her medical bills. Emails considered by The Occasions confirmed he opened the belief final 12 months, then closed it with out placing cash into it.
Final summer season, Ms. Southern filed a criticism towards Kernel and Mr. Johnson to the N.L.R.B., saying the confidentiality phrases violated a provision of labor legislation that protects workers who wish to discuss office circumstances.
Whereas Ms. Southern remains to be sure by the settlement’s phrases, she stated she selected to talk to The Occasions about her working circumstances to signify Mr. Johnson’s workers.
Different workers heard about Ms. Southern’s authorized technique. In February, Ms. Contento, the previous assistant to Mr. Johnson, filed an analogous criticism to the N.L.R.B. by the identical lawyer, Mr. Bruenig. Ms. Southern stated Ms. Contento had discovered about him by her criticism. A 3rd former worker of Mr. Johnson’s quickly filed a criticism much like the opposite two.
As a result of the workers filed in a concerted effort towards Mr. Johnson, federal legislation protects their potential to talk about office circumstances, Mr. Bruenig stated. He added that the N.L.R.B. was investigating Ms. Southern’s criticism.
The N.L.R.B. didn’t return requests for remark. Ryan Discipline, Kernel’s chief government, stated the corporate was cooperating with the investigation. Mr. Johnson has introduced in David Broderdorf, an employment lawyer at Morgan Lewis, in accordance with filings with the N.L.R.B.
A few of Mr. Johnson’s present and former workers at the moment are usually chatting with each other about their experiences at his corporations, Ms. Southern stated.
“We hope to convey some sort of constructive ending for different workers,” she stated.
Kirsten Noyes contributed analysis.
