Dr Peter Attia, a longevity influencer, has resigned from his post with CBS News in light of the latest US Justice Department’s release of files related to the late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. The major shake-up comes about three weeks after his seemingly playful friendship with the deceased American financier was exposed in dozens of emails published on the Department of Justice’s (DOJ) publicly available Epstein Library.
The anti-aging researcher was one of several other “star” contributors hired by CBS News editor-in-chief Bari Weiss late last month. His reputation particularly took a hit after the DOJ’s January 30 release of an additional 3.5 million responsive pages in compliance with the Epstein Files Transparency Law. The massive government disclosure came just three days after Peter Attia’s CBS News hiring was announced.
Who is Peter Attia?
The 52-year-old Canadian-American author is best known for his work in longevity medicine. Having been in Toronto, Attia is currently based in Austin, Texas, as per his LinkedIn profile. Some may also recognise him as the New York Times bestselling author of “Outlive: The Science and Art of Longevity,” while others may think back to the controversial doctor’s identity as the host of the popular podcast “The Peter Attia Drive.”
According to his LinkedIn profile, he earned his Bachelor of Science degree in Mechanical Engineering & Applied Math from Queen’s University and his MD degree from Stanford University.
The Stanford, Johns Hopkins, and NIH-trained physician is also known as the founder of Early Medical, “a medical practice that applies the principles of Medicine 3.0 to patients with the goal of simultaneously lengthening their lifespan and increasing their healthspan,” according to its website.
Moreover, the world-renowned speaker even co-founded 10 Squared, a private member training program conceived to “help you train today, with the specificity of an athlete, for maximum physical capacity over the decades ahead,” as per its website.
The following email is what I sent my team last night. I sent a similar version to my patients, also.
— Peter Attia (@PeterAttiaMD) February 2, 2026
***
You’ve put your trust, your credibility, and your hard work into what we have built together, and I take that responsibility seriously. You deserve a complete and honest…
Peter Attia mentioned in Epstein Files emails
As analysed by the New York Times, Peter Attia’s name appears in more than 1,700 documents of the Epstein Files. In addition to shedding light on their exchange of crude jokes, the files also indicate that the doctor recommended and arranged extensive medical testing for the American financier.
Their correspondence is believed to have started in 2015, years after Epstein had first been criminally convicted over prostitution charges involving a minor. Their interactions reportedly ended in December 2018, just after The Miami Herald started releasing a series of articles about the extent of Epstein’s crimes and more.
In one such interaction from 2015, Attia lamented that the “worst” part about being Epstein’s friend is that “the life you lead is so outrageous, and yet I can’t tell a soul.”
In yet another grotesque message, Attia wrote to Epstein in 2016: “—y is, indeed, low carb. Still awaiting results on gluten content, though.”
The controversial influencer even brought up queries about any legal “fallout” from a story, alluding to Miami Herald’s 2018 story identifying 80 of Epstein’s victims.
In 2017, he told Epstein to take his medical recommendations seriously, even if just to “keep up with the 23-year-old beauties.”
At one point, Attia even expressed how fond he was of Epstein in the emails. Following their first meeting, he said, “he might literally be one of the — if not the — most interesting people I’ve ever met!” Elsewhere, he added that he went into “JE withdrawal” if he went too long without seeing him.
Scheduling emails suggest that Attia met with Epstein in person on more than a dozen occasions. These also insinuate that he once ended up staying in an apartment owned or operated by the financier. In 2015, he scheduled plans to visit Epstein’s notorious New Mexico ranch. However, the sex offender’s team seems to have made a last-minute cancellation for that schedule.
Peter Attia’s response to being in the Epstein Files
As per US reports, Peter Attia’s CBS News resignation was revealed in an email to employees in the booking department of the news outlet on Monday. A spokesperson has since addressed the matter as well.
“Dr Attia’s contributor role was newly established and had not yet meaningfully begun,” the spokesperson stated. “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.”
After his ties to the child sex offender were exposed through the government disclosure, Attia had even penned a lengthy apology on social media earlier this month, also sharing it with his team and patients. He has since also stepped down from his position as chief science officer for the protein bar company David.
“I apologise and regret putting myself in a position where emails, some of them embarrassing, tasteless and indefensible, are now public, and that is on me,” he said. “I accept that reality and the humiliation that comes with it.”
Clarifying that he was neither involved in nor enabled or witnessed any criminal activity related to Epstein, he claimed his interactions “with Epstein had nothing to do with his sexual abuse or exploitation of anyone.” Defending himself further, Attia firmly asserted that he had never travelled to Epstein’s island, been on his plane, or even attended any of his sex parties.
Even addressing the June 2015 email about Epstein’s life being outrageous, Attia tweeted, “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.”
Attia also asserted that when he confronted Epstein about his 2008 conviction after their first meeting, the financier “grossly minimised” the extent of his misconduct.
He added, “I was incredibly naïve to believe him. I mistook his social acceptance in the eyes of the credible people I saw him with for acceptability, and that was a serious error in my judgment. To be clear, I never witnessed illegal behavior and never saw anyone who appeared underage in his presence.”