‘Walked naked, discussed erections’: Anti-ageing millionaire Bryan Johnson’s workplace behaviour exposed

Multimillionaire anti-ageing influencer Bryan Johnson has been accused of using nondisclosure agreements to prevent workers from speaking about his unusual behaviour.

The tech entrepreneur and longevity advocate allegedly pushed his employees, sexual partners, vendors, and contract workers to sign these agreements.

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As per The New York Times, Johnson has relied on confidentiality agreements for nearly a decade to maintain control over his public image and the companies he established under his startup, Blueprint.

But what was Johnson’s allegedly bizarre behaviour, and how did the tech entrepreneur respond to the allegations?

We will take a look at these questions.

Bryan Johnson’s alleged bizarre behaviour

His unconventional health objectives have gained a following for his “Don’t Die” ideology , leading to the creation of his health start-up Blueprint and a role in a recent Netflix documentary.

However, Johnson has now been accused of using nondisclosure agreements to prevent workers from speaking out.

According to The New York Times, his employees, sexual partners, vendors, and contract workers were all required to sign these agreements, at times in exchange for settlements, severance, or continued employment.

Now, some of those agreements, originally meant to keep details of Johnson’s personal and professional life confidential, are being challenged by former workers who are teaming up together to contest them.

After making millions from selling his payments company Braintree to PayPal in 2013, Johnson divorced his wife, hired prostitutes, and experimented with substances like LSD and psychedelics, including DMT, the newspaper reported after speaking to 30 individuals for its investigation.

In 2016, he established Kernel, a brain technology start-up, after turning down an opportunity to launch a similar venture with Tesla’s Elon Musk, who later went on to create Neuralink.

As Musk’s reputation grew, Johnson became increasingly focused on his own public image and wondered why he was not receiving the same level of attention. He then began relying more heavily on NDAs, NYT reported citing former employees and acquaintances.

By last year, a Blueprint employment contract containing confidentiality clauses had expanded to 20 pages, listing numerous restrictions.

One clause required employees to keep confidential “any nonpublic information regarding Bryan’s home, office, personal effects in his home or office, any spaces rented or owned by Bryan, any vehicles/planes/automobiles/boats/other methods of transportation that are not publicly accessible, or areas of his home or such space that are not publicly accessible.”

Johnson has also faced allegations of walking around the office either naked or in minimal clothing and engaging in discussions about sexual matters, including erections, with staff.

As per The New York Times, one document stated that employees had to acknowledge they were comfortable with Johnson wearing “little and sometimes no clothing/no underwear” and with hearing “discussions of sexual activities, including erections.”

They also had to agree that his behaviour was not “unwelcome, offensive, humiliating, hostile, triggering, unprofessional or abusive,” according to the report.

Sources told the newspaper that Johnson frequently walked around in minimal clothing during working hours and openly flirted with Blueprint’s predominantly female workforce. They claimed they felt unable to speak up due to the agreements they had signed.

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The case of Johnson’s former fiancee

Jamie Contento, who used to work as Johnson’s personal assistant, left Blueprint last year and told The New York Times she had emailed human resources to report concerns about the workplace environment.

She is among at least three former employees, including Johnson’s ex-fiancee, who have filed complaints with the National Labor Relations Board regarding his confidentiality agreements.

Taryn Southern, who was both Johnson’s fiancee and an employee at Kernel, had previously raised concerns in a 2021 lawsuit, accusing him of firing her after their breakup while she was battling Stage 3 breast cancer.

According to the lawsuit, Johnson had pressured Southern to sign an NDA that imposed a $500,000 penalty for each breach of confidentiality.

She also claimed Johnson had broken a promise to pay her $150,000 to cover rent and relocation costs following their split, NYT reported.

However, Johnson moved the case to arbitration, and in 2023, a ruling was issued requiring Southern to abide by the NDA, preventing her from pursuing legal action against him.

Johnson then countersued for legal expenses, and Southern was ordered to pay him over $584,000.

The health enthusiast later posted a YouTube video discussing the dispute and followed it up with a 2,400-word post on X, in which he claimed his health pattern had helped Southern overcome cancer and alleged that he feared she would kill him with scissors.

What Johnson said on the allegations

The millionaire responded to the NYT expose, claiming the publication had attempted to target him but failed.

“The New York Times tried to come for me and missed,” he wrote on X.

“What was meant to be a takedown ended up reading like a profile piece. They spent a year digging, talked to 30 people, including former fired employees, propped up my ex as their star witness (who tried to extract $9 million from me and failed). And still came up empty,” he added.

Johnson defended the use of confidentiality agreements, calling them a “fair and good practice for everyone,” and accused the report of distorting facts to fit a specific narrative.

Last month, he explained that due to his heightened security concerns, these agreements were intended to establish clear boundaries and expectations.

The wealthy tech entrepreneur claims to have reversed his biological age by 5.1 years through a strict routine of diet, exercise, and health monitoring. He reportedly spends over $2 million annually on his anti-ageing programme. His initiative, ‘Project Blueprint,’ employs multiple strategies to slow down his epigenetic ageing process.