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 tablets with a drink referred to as “the inexperienced large,” he mentioned.
Mr. Johnson additionally talked about his long-life start-up, Blueprint, which sells well being dietary supplements, blood-testing tools and different merchandise tied to his private food plan and suggestions.
“By doing Blueprint, one of many key targets 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 characteristic was a breakout second in Mr. Johnson’s five-year marketing campaign to turn into the face of certainly one of Silicon Valley’s most oddball fascinations: the pursuit of eternal youth. The 47-year-old former Mormon missionary has turn into recognized for experimenting on his personal physique to defy getting 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 the earth, 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 combat 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 staff, sexual companions, distributors and contract staff have all needed to signal the paperwork, generally in change for settlements, severance or continued employment at his companies, based on individuals near him and his start-ups, inner paperwork and courtroom information.
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 staff band collectively to problem them.
At the very least three of Mr. Johnson’s former staff — 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 mentioned the phrases they signed had been “overbroad” and accused Mr. Johnson of violating federal legal guidelines that shield staff who need to talk about their office situations, based on copies of two of the complaints and 6 individuals with data 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 ought to be made public, former staff and others with data of the corporate mentioned.
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 mentioned. Final fall, Mr. Johnson additionally informed Blueprint executives that the corporate was working out of cash.
Mr. Johnson’s purpose was “to make use of these contractual agreements to maintain everybody quiet,” and that effort “form of was a home of playing cards,” mentioned Matt Bruenig, the lawyer for the previous staff 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, mentioned 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 staff. 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 information, inner paperwork, photographs and the N.L.R.B. complaints.
Mr. Johnson declined to reply many questions from The Occasions. In a put up on X earlier than this text was revealed, he mentioned confidentiality agreements “attempt to create clear boundaries and expectations, in order that belief isn’t left to likelihood.”
After The Occasions contacted Mr. Johnson, he privately pushed individuals in his orbit to abide by the agreements, individuals accustomed to his outreach mentioned. 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,” based on a replica.
Publicly, Mr. Johnson centered 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 mentioned.
Everlasting life
Mr. Johnson based the funds firm Braintree in 2007 and have become a multimillionaire when PayPal bought the start-up in 2013. He quickly shed his Mormon roots and started a section of exploration.
Mr. Johnson divorced his spouse, with whom he has three kids, and left the Mormon Church. He employed prostitutes, based on associates, former staff 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 individuals couldn’t converse publicly about his escapades, or discuss to their associates or household about him.
In 2016, Mr. Johnson based Kernel, a mind expertise start-up. He had turned down the possibility to ascertain the same firm with Elon Musk, who created his personal such agency, Neuralink.
Mr. Johnson more and more fixated on his repute, based on former associates and staff, and questioned 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 associates mentioned. She signed however left early, incensed by the settlement.
The confidentiality phrases had been sometimes 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 staff couldn’t speak about.
However as Mr. Johnson transitioned into the longevity business and centered on his well being, dropping 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 dwelling, 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 referred to as “Bryan’s favorites” listed on the market on the web site. “He’s the healthiest particular person on the planet,” Blueprint’s website claims.
By final 12 months, a Blueprint employment settlement with confidentiality phrases was 20 pages lengthy and listed dozens of restrictions.
Amongst them: Employees should hold confidential “any nonpublic data relating to Bryan’s dwelling, workplace, private results in his dwelling 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 dwelling or such house that aren’t publicly accessible,” based on a replica.
In his X put up, Mr. Johnson mentioned the agreements “have advanced, similar to every part else I iterate & enhance upon.” He added, “The purpose is precision.”
Staff at Blueprint, which has a employees of about 30, generally needed to signal as many as three separate agreements. That’s atypical for worker agreements, based on 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 staff would possibly witness within the office.
Beneath that settlement, staff needed to attest that they had been OK with Mr. Johnson’s carrying “little and generally no clothes/no underwear” and with listening to “discussions of sexual actions, together with erections,” based on a replica. Additionally they needed to agree that Mr. Johnson’s conduct was not “unwelcome, offensive, humiliating, hostile, triggering, unprofessional or abusive.”
The opt-in settlement was “honest to all involved and is in everybody’s finest curiosity,” Mr. Johnson posted on X.
Many rich people and corporations use confidentiality agreements. However Cliff Palefsky, an employment lawyer in San Francisco, mentioned 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,” mentioned Mr. Palefsky, who reviewed the paperwork for The Occasions.
Longevity combine
By early final 12 months, some Blueprint staff had been rising annoyed with the confidentiality agreements as the corporate skilled issues, individuals who have labored there mentioned.
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,” based on 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 hitch a examine of the dietary supplements and meals referred to as “The Blueprint Stack.” The purpose was to look at the consequences of the merchandise on individuals’s well being, based on the individuals and inner paperwork considered by The Occasions.
Some executives, together with Dr. Zolman, wished to comply with normal scientific testing procedures for the examine and select customers to check at random, the individuals mentioned. However Mr. Johnson had clients pay greater than $2,100 to take part, they mentioned. He promised them he would launch the outcomes by the summer season of 2024.
Of the roughly 1,700 individuals within the examine, about 60 % skilled no less than one facet impact, based on inner emails, spreadsheets and different paperwork. Blood assessments revealed that individuals noticed their testosterone ranges drop and have become prediabetic after following Mr. Johnson’s food plan plan. It’s unclear how extreme the uncomfortable side effects had been.
“Longevity combine: A variety of feedback about hating this as it’s making them sick, vomit, have heartburn, and so forth.,” 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 prompted points. “TONS of individuals saying it’s inflicting nausea, bloating,” wrote an worker.
In an e-mail to The Occasions, Mr. Johnson mentioned the outcomes confirmed “frequent uncomfortable side effects with any meals, beverage or complement.” Blueprint merchandise are at all times improved, he mentioned, and are examined for security. He added that it was typical in a self-experimentation examine to not cowl individuals’ prices.
Staff felt they may not share the findings due to the confidentiality agreements, based on the emails and textual content messages.
Final summer season, Dr. Zolman left Blueprint after elevating issues in regards to the examine’s outcomes, individuals accustomed to his departure mentioned. He had signed a nondisclosure settlement, however Mr. Johnson wished him to signal one other one in return for a month of severance, they mentioned. Dr. Zolman declined due to the stringent phrases.
Mr. Johnson didn’t publish the examine’s outcomes by the summer season of 2024, as he had informed clients he would. In January, he released some knowledge for about 300 individuals, exhibiting optimistic outcomes. The dietary supplements proceed to be bought.
In an e-mail to The Occasions, Mr. Johnson mentioned metrics about Blueprint’s dietary supplements “transitioned to or stayed within the regular vary all through the whole lot of the examine.” 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 data of his departure mentioned.
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 under its break-even level by no less than $1 million a month, individuals with data of the enterprise mentioned. Mr. Johnson, who had put in $25 million as Blueprint’s sole investor, warned executives that the corporate was working out of cash. Its present funds are unclear.
This 12 months, a recruiting e-mail described Blueprint as “already worthwhile,” based on a replica of the message.
Mr. Johnson has additionally generally cherry-picked the rosiest metrics for his personal well being experiments, former staff and others mentioned, significantly to highlight his “organic age,” which refers to how effectively his organs and different physique components are functioning.
Within the Netflix documentary, which was largely filmed in 2023, Mr. Johnson mentioned his organic age had reversed 5.1 years. However the outcomes of a spread of inner research of his well being between January 2022 and February 2024 confirmed it had elevated by as a lot as 10 years, based on charts of the blood check outcomes. It’s unclear what his present assessments present.
In an e-mail, Mr. Johnson mentioned that the “choice to spotlight the 5.1 12 months discount was made completely by the documentary’s manufacturing group” and that the statistic got here from an experiment performed in early 2023. He mentioned “organic age measurements fluctuate” relying on the check and different elements.
‘Simply didn’t really feel proper’
Worker issues flared final spring when Blueprint despatched the opt-in settlement, requiring staff 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 staff signed, however their issues mounted. With Blueprint run from Mr. Johnson’s dwelling, the road between his private life and enterprise generally was hazy, former staff and others near Mr. Johnson mentioned.
Throughout workdays, Mr. Johnson ceaselessly walked round with little clothes on, and generally flirted with Blueprint’s largely feminine employees, they mentioned. However due to the opt-in settlement, nobody felt capable of might complain.
Ms. Contento, who had additionally labored at Kernel, mentioned 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 need to lose her job, she mentioned, however “the doc simply didn’t really feel proper.”
Final fall, Ms. Contento left Blueprint. On the time, she emailed human assets to lift issues in regards to the work atmosphere, which she mentioned “started to vary in ways in which made me really feel uncomfortable,” based on 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 mentioned in an e-mail that Ms. Contento had “raised no materials complaints or issues relating to the work atmosphere or her position to my data” whereas at Blueprint.
A name for motion
Whilst issues grew over what Mr. Johnson was saying publicly versus privately, many staff had been afraid to problem him and his confidentiality agreements.
That they had 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 along with her whereas she had Stage 3 breast most cancers, based on a 2021 lawsuit she filed in opposition to him.
Mr. Johnson had pressured her to signal an employment separation settlement with confidentiality phrases, the lawsuit mentioned. One model of the confidentiality phrases included a $500,000 penalty every time she broke the foundations.
“It’s all he appeared to care about, that settlement,” Ms. Southern mentioned in her first interview in regards to the expertise.
Many Blueprint staff adopted the developments in Ms. Southern’s lawsuit, during which she contended that Mr. Johnson had breached a promise to pay her $150,000 in change for hire and shifting out of their dwelling 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 mentioned 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 economic system.” He adopted on Valentine’s Day 2024 with a 2,400-word put up 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 acquired greater than 500,000 views.
Ms. Southern felt she couldn’t reply due to the confidentiality phrases. (4 individuals near the couple mentioned 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 full of assaults from Mr. Johnson’s followers.
“Most cancers therapy and my termination and every part I needed to undergo — that was all terrible,” mentioned Ms. Southern, whose most cancers is in remission. “However what felt worse was not with the ability to share the reality after I was being publicly attacked.”
Mr. Johnson has not paid Ms. Southern the $150,000. In his YouTube video, he mentioned 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 grievance in opposition to Kernel and Mr. Johnson to the N.L.R.B., saying the confidentiality phrases violated a provision of labor legislation that protects staff who need to talk about office situations.
Whereas Ms. Southern remains to be sure by the settlement’s phrases, she mentioned she selected to talk to The Occasions about her working situations to symbolize Mr. Johnson’s staff.
Different staff heard about Ms. Southern’s authorized technique. In February, Ms. Contento, the previous assistant to Mr. Johnson, filed the same grievance to the N.L.R.B. by the identical lawyer, Mr. Bruenig. Ms. Southern mentioned Ms. Contento had realized about him by her grievance. A 3rd former worker of Mr. Johnson’s quickly filed a grievance much like the opposite two.
As a result of the staff filed in a concerted effort in opposition to Mr. Johnson, federal legislation protects their skill to discuss office situations, Mr. Bruenig mentioned. He added that the N.L.R.B. was investigating Ms. Southern’s grievance.
The N.L.R.B. didn’t return requests for remark. Ryan Subject, Kernel’s chief government, mentioned the corporate was cooperating with the investigation. Mr. Johnson has introduced in David Broderdorf, an employment lawyer at Morgan Lewis, based on filings with the N.L.R.B.
A few of Mr. Johnson’s present and former staff at the moment are commonly chatting with each other about their experiences at his corporations, Ms. Southern mentioned.
“We hope to convey some form of optimistic ending for different staff,” she mentioned.
Kirsten Noyes contributed analysis.
