Peter Attia, a physician and prominent longevity influencer, is stepping down from his role as a CBS News contributor after the Justice Department released hundreds of previously undisclosed emails between him and convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, according to two people familiar with the decision, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to share private employment details.
Attia was part of a new slate of contributors announced in January, amid editor in chief Bari Weiss’s plans to remake the network. But Attia never appeared on the network in that capacity. CBS News reported in October that Epstein’s calendar included meetings with Attia. “Attia’s later appointments suggest Epstein was a patient. The schedule includes notations for blood draws and follow-ups over several years,” according to that article.
But new troves of emails released by the Justice Department in recent days revealed a chummy, more personal relationship between the two.
“You [know] the biggest problem with becoming friends with you?” Attia wrote to Epstein in an email on June 24, 2015. “The life you lead is so outrageous, and yet I can’t tell a soul …”
In another email dated Feb. 19, 2016, Attia used vulgar language referring to women’s genitals. “P—- is, indeed, low carb,” he wrote. “Still awaiting results on gluten content, though.”
Attia’s name appeared to be mentioned in hundreds of the newly released files, a Washington Post analysis found. Attia has not been accused of any wrongdoing in connection with Epstein, who was charged with sex trafficking in 2019 and died later that year while in federal custody. His death was ruled a suicide.
“Dr. Attia’s contributor role was newly established and had not yet meaningfully begun,” a spokesman for Attia said. “As such, he stepped back to ensure his involvement didn’t become a distraction from the important work being done at CBS. He wishes the network and its leadership well and has no further comment at this time.”
CBS News declined to comment. The Hollywood Reporter first reported on Attia’s decision Monday.
On Feb. 2, Attia posted a long statement on the social media platform X and said he sent a similar note to his team and his patients. “You deserve a complete and honest account of what did and did not happen. I apologize that I did not get this out sooner, but I want to be thorough,” he wrote.
“The purpose of the DOJ releasing these documents is clear: to identify individuals who participated in criminal activity, enabled it, or witnessed it. I am not in any of those categories, and there is no evidence to the contrary.” Attia wrote that he was “not involved in any criminal activity,” that his communications “had nothing to do with [Epstein’s] sexual abuse or exploitation of anyone,” that he was never on Epstein’s plane or his island, and that he did not attend any of Epstein’s “sex parties.”
He continued: “That said, I apologize and regret putting myself in a position where emails, some of them embarrassing, tasteless, and indefensible, are now public, and that is on me. I accept that reality and the humiliation that comes with it.”
A redacted image accompanied the June 2015 email, which had the subject line “Got a fresh shipment” and included Attia’s comment about Epstein’s “outrageous” lifestyle. Attia said the redacted image was a photograph of “bottles of metformin,” a diabetes medication, that he had received for his own use.
He said his allusion to Epstein’s “outrageous” life and his commitment to stay silent about it was not about the sexual abuse of minors but about Epstein’s “excessive and exclusive” lifestyle.
“What I was referring to, poorly and flippantly, was the discretion commanded by those social and professional circles — the idea that you don’t talk about who you meet, the dinners you attend and the power and influence of the people in those settings. What I wrote in that email reads terribly, and I own that,” he wrote.
In his Feb. 2 statement, Attia said he met Epstein seven or eight times at Epstein’s New York City home “regarding research studies and to meet others he introduced me to.” Attia said he was not Epstein’s doctor, although he on several occasions responded to “general medical questions and recommended other providers to him.”
When he asked Epstein about 2008 state charges of soliciting prostitution including with minors, to which the financier pleaded guilty in a deal with prosecutors, Attia said Epstein downplayed the facts of the case. Attia said he learned later, from the Miami Herald’s reporting on Epstein, that this characterization was “grossly minimized.”
Attia wrote that he now regrets having played that role. “Once the full scope of his actions was clear, disengagement should have been the only appropriate response,” he wrote. “My intent does not change that, and I regret not drawing that boundary immediately.”
He concluded by saying that he is not asking for a “pass” or for anyone to “ignore the emails or pretend they aren’t ugly.” He said that he would not write those emails today nor associate with Epstein.
Attia, based near Austin, has a concierge medical practice focused on helping people live longer and healthier. With more than 1 million subscribers to his YouTube channel, he has become one of the most influential voices in the booming field of longevity medicine. His path to prominence began with an elite pedigree, including a medical degree from Stanford University’s School of Medicine and a surgical residency at Johns Hopkins. But he quit the residency early, citing frustration with the rigid traditions of conventional medicine, he wrote in a best-selling book, “Outlive: The Science and Art of Longevity.”
He took a job with consulting firm McKinsey before returning to practice medicine, focusing on getting ahead of chronic disease with preventive measures, as chronicled in “Outlive.” The Texas Medical Board shows that Attia, 52, has been practicing for 22 years, listing internal medicine as a specialty and no board certifications.
As he has emerged as a prominent voice in health, Attia has also dabbled in commercial ventures, serving as an adviser to publicly traded device-maker Dexcom as well as private concerns such as Moonwalk Biosciences. An outspoken advocate of a high-protein diet, Attia was earlier listed as the chief science officer for the company behind the popular David protein bar, but he stepped down from the company earlier this month.
Aaron Schaffer contributed to this report.
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