CBS News’ star contributor Peter Attia might be keeping his new gig, but he’s losing his audience.
Attia, a self-styled longevity expert recently brought onto the network by its new, MAGA-coded editor-in-chief, has seen his follower count plunge after his name appeared at least 1,700 times in the latest tranche of Jeffrey Epstein files released by the Department of Justice.
Over the past decade, the 52-year-old health influencer has risen to the top of the ever-profitable wellness industry, boasting millions of followers and subscribers across platforms including Instagram, Facebook, and YouTube. But in the days since his constant—and often playful—communications with perhaps America’s most notorious pedophile were brought to light, followers have begun abandoning him.
Since Friday, Attia has lost more than 100,000 followers on Instagram, dropping from 1,756,680 to 1,653,162 as of publication. The celebrity doctor—who received medical training but is not board-certified—has also lost roughly 10,000 subscribers on YouTube.
Critics have long regarded Attia as a “wellness grifter,” likening him to a snake-oil salesman-turned-podcaster who charges clients up to $2,500 for longevity advice. At the same time, his devoted followers have embraced him as a guide to vitality—until now.
“I’ve been a paid subscriber of his for over 5 years. I feel so betrayed that I can’t put it properly into words…” wrote one X user, Dave, who said he studies longevity.
Another chimed in: “Can you believe this? I’ve been following him and even got inspired by a couple of his takes on longevity for about 6 or 7 years now… But I will say that his book was a huge disappointment to me.”
The DOJ’s file dump included dozens of emails between Attia and Epstein that suggest a close friendship lasting until the disgraced financier’s 2019 arrest on federal sex trafficking charges. In fact, Attia even chose to meet Epstein for dinner in New York rather than return home to San Diego to support his wife after their newborn son stopped breathing and had to be rushed to the hospital.
The pair’s banter frequently veered into explicit territory. In one 2016 email, Attia wrote to Epstein, “P—y is, indeed, low carb. Still awaiting results on gluten content, though.”
In another exchange, Attia joked that the “worst” part about being Epstein’s friend was that “the life you lead is so outrageous, and yet I can’t tell a soul.”
Despite the revelations, CBS News chief Bari Weiss appears to be standing by her new medical expert—even as some of Attia’s other ventures, including David Protein and the “sleep fitness” company Eight Sleep, have not.
“It’s Bari versus everyone right now on Attia,” a Paramount insider told Sharon Waxman, editor-in-chief of The Wrap, on Monday afternoon.
The Daily Beast has reached out to Attia for comment. A press inquiry form on the CBS News contributor’s website instructs journalists to acknowledge two guidelines before proceeding: “We get final approval before anything goes to print” and “we never discuss our clients or our price model.” Granting interview subjects approval over material prior to publication is widely considered unethical in the media industry.
On social media, Attia released a self-pitying apology in which he described being starstruck by Epstein’s elite social connections, private plane, and ownership of “the largest home in all of Manhattan.”
“At that point in my career, I had little exposure to prominent people, and that level of access was novel to me. Everything about him seemed excessive and exclusive,” Attia, a Stanford University graduate, wrote in an X post.
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