In a Netflix documentary launched in January, Bryan Johnson, a tech entrepreneur turned longevity guru, walked folks by means of 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 known 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 gear and different merchandise tied to his private eating regimen and proposals.
“By doing Blueprint, one of many key targets is to attain 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 considered one of Silicon Valley’s most oddball fascinations: the pursuit of eternal youth. The 47-year-old former Mormon missionary has change into recognized for experimenting on his personal physique to defy getting old, fascinating the media and his practically 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 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 combat over Mr. Johnson’s use of a authorized doc: confidentiality agreements.
For practically 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 staff have all needed to signal the paperwork, typically in change for settlements, severance or continued employment at his companies, based on folks near him and his start-ups, inner paperwork and court docket data.
Now these agreements, which have been supposed to maintain folks silent on Mr. Johnson’s private life and companies, are backfiring as a few of his staff band collectively to problem them.
At the least three of Mr. Johnson’s former workers — together with a former fiancée who labored for him — have lately filed complaints with the Nationwide Labor Relations Board, a federal watchdog company, about his confidentiality agreements. They mentioned the phrases they signed have been “overbroad” and accused Mr. Johnson of violating federal legal guidelines that shield staff who wish to talk about their office circumstances, based on copies of two of the complaints and 6 folks with data of them.
Folks 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 needs to be made public, former workers 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 considerations about a few of its well being dietary supplements, the folks mentioned. Final fall, Mr. Johnson additionally instructed Blueprint executives that the corporate was operating out of cash.
Mr. Johnson’s purpose was “to make use of these contractual agreements to maintain everybody quiet,” and that effort “type of was a home of playing cards,” mentioned 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, mentioned she “positively felt coerced into signing the agreements” as a result of she thought she would lose her job if she didn’t accomplish that.
The New York Instances interviewed 30 folks 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 have been certain by the confidentiality phrases and feared retaliation from Mr. Johnson. The Instances additionally reviewed copies of the agreements, court docket data, inner paperwork, pictures and the N.L.R.B. complaints.
Mr. Johnson declined to reply many questions from The Instances. In a publish 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 Instances contacted Mr. Johnson, he privately pushed folks in his orbit to abide by the agreements, folks accustomed to his outreach mentioned. One authorized letter despatched final month reminded a former worker that they have been “strictly prohibited from utilizing, disclosing or misappropriating any confidential, proprietary or commerce secret info belonging to the corporate or Bryan R. Johnson,” based on a duplicate.
Publicly, Mr. Johnson targeted on different issues. This month, he introduced his personal faith, which is known as 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 commenced a part of exploration.
Mr. Johnson divorced his spouse, with whom he has three youngsters, and left the Mormon Church. He employed prostitutes, based on mates, former workers and court docket paperwork, and took medicine 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 mates or household about him.
In 2016, Mr. Johnson based Kernel, a mind expertise start-up. He had turned down the prospect to ascertain an analogous firm with Elon Musk, who created his personal such agency, Neuralink.
Mr. Johnson more and more fixated on his popularity, based on former mates 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 mates mentioned. She signed however left early, incensed by the settlement.
The confidentiality phrases have 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 discuss.
However as Mr. Johnson transitioned into the longevity business and targeted 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 house, 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 individual 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 maintain confidential “any nonpublic info relating to Bryan’s house, workplace, private results in his house or workplace, any areas rented or owned by Bryan, any automobiles/planes/vehicles/boats/different strategies of transportation that aren’t publicly accessible, or areas of his house or such area that aren’t publicly accessible,” based on a duplicate.
In his X publish, Mr. Johnson mentioned the agreements “have developed, similar to all the things else I iterate & enhance upon.” He added, “The purpose is precision.”
Workers at Blueprint, which has a workers of about 30, typically needed to signal as many as three separate agreements. That’s atypical for worker agreements, based on authorized consultants.
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.
Beneath that settlement, workers needed to attest that they have been OK with Mr. Johnson’s carrying “little and typically no clothes/no underwear” and with listening to “discussions of sexual actions, together with erections,” based on a duplicate. In addition 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 firms use confidentiality agreements. However Cliff Palefsky, an employment lawyer in San Francisco, mentioned some points of Mr. Johnson’s agreements have been overly broad and unenforceable.
Mr. Johnson and his firm are “relying on folks being afraid and never violating it as a result of they’re afraid,” mentioned Mr. Palefsky, who reviewed the paperwork for The Instances.
Longevity combine
By early final 12 months, some Blueprint workers have been rising annoyed with the confidentiality agreements as the corporate skilled issues, individuals who have labored there mentioned.
Amongst them have been questions on Blueprint’s well being dietary supplements. The corporate sells a few 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 staff, together with Dr. Zolman, requested for volunteers to affix a examine of the dietary supplements and meals known as “The Blueprint Stack.” The purpose was to look at the consequences of the merchandise on folks’s well being, based on the folks and inner paperwork considered by The Instances.
Some executives, together with Dr. Zolman, needed to observe commonplace scientific testing procedures for the examine and select customers to check at random, the folks mentioned. However Mr. Johnson had prospects 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 at the least one facet impact, based on inner emails, spreadsheets and different paperwork. Blood exams revealed that individuals noticed their testosterone ranges drop and have become prediabetic after following Mr. Johnson’s eating regimen plan. It’s unclear how extreme the uncomfortable side effects have been.
“Longevity combine: Numerous 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 different 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 Instances, 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.
Workers 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 considerations concerning the examine’s outcomes, folks accustomed to his departure mentioned. He had signed a nondisclosure settlement, however Mr. Johnson needed 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 instructed prospects he would. In January, he released some information for about 300 individuals, exhibiting optimistic outcomes. The dietary supplements proceed to be bought.
In an e-mail to The Instances, 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 considerations,” with out offering proof. Dr. Zolman didn’t depart for these causes, folks with data of his departure mentioned.
On the similar time, Blueprint bumped into monetary challenges. Whereas income elevated final 12 months to about $40 million and the corporate has about 40,000 prospects, it was falling under its break-even level by at the least $1 million a month, folks 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 operating out of cash. Its present funds are unclear.
This 12 months, a recruiting e-mail described Blueprint as “already worthwhile,” based on a duplicate of the message.
Mr. Johnson has additionally typically cherry-picked the rosiest metrics for his personal well being experiments, former workers and others mentioned, notably to highlight his “organic age,” which refers to how nicely 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 exams present.
In an e-mail, Mr. Johnson mentioned that the “resolution to spotlight the 5.1 12 months discount was made totally by the documentary’s manufacturing staff” and that the statistic got here from an experiment carried out in early 2023. He mentioned “organic age measurements fluctuate” relying on the check and different elements.
‘Simply didn’t really feel proper’
Worker considerations flared final spring when Blueprint despatched the opt-in settlement, requiring staff to say they have been OK with many office behaviors. It landed in e-mail inboxes with directions to signal as a standard course of enterprise.
Many workers signed, however their considerations mounted. With Blueprint run from Mr. Johnson’s house, the road between his private life and enterprise typically was hazy, former workers and others near Mr. Johnson mentioned.
Throughout workdays, Mr. Johnson often walked round with little clothes on, and typically flirted with Blueprint’s largely feminine workers, they mentioned. However due to the opt-in settlement, nobody felt in a position to 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 wish 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 sources to boost considerations concerning the work setting, which she mentioned “started to vary in ways in which made me really feel uncomfortable,” based on a duplicate 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 considerations. 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 considerations relating to the work setting or her position to my data” whereas at Blueprint.
A name for motion
At the same time as considerations grew over what Mr. Johnson was saying publicly versus privately, many workers have 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 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 principles.
“It’s all he appeared to care about, that settlement,” Ms. Southern mentioned in her first interview concerning the expertise.
Many Blueprint workers adopted the developments in Ms. Southern’s lawsuit, by which she contended that Mr. Johnson had breached a promise to pay her $150,000 in change for hire and shifting out of their house 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 financial system.” He additionally spoke to Vanity Fair 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 folks near the couple mentioned that they’d 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 all the things I needed to undergo — that was all terrible,” mentioned 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 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 Instances 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 in opposition to Kernel and Mr. Johnson to the N.L.R.B., saying the confidentiality phrases violated a provision of labor regulation that protects workers who wish to talk about office circumstances.
Whereas Ms. Southern continues to be certain by the settlement’s phrases, she mentioned she selected to talk to The Instances about her working circumstances to symbolize 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 means of the identical lawyer, Mr. Bruenig. Ms. Southern mentioned Ms. Contento had realized about him by means of her criticism. A 3rd former worker of Mr. Johnson’s quickly filed a criticism just like the opposite two.
As a result of the workers filed in a concerted effort in opposition to Mr. Johnson, federal regulation protects their capacity to talk about office circumstances, Mr. Bruenig mentioned. 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 Area, 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 workers are actually often chatting with each other about their experiences at his corporations, Ms. Southern mentioned.
“We hope to convey some type of optimistic ending for different workers,” she mentioned.
Kirsten Noyes contributed analysis.
