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.”
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Aaron Schaffer contributed to this report.
This article originally appeared on The Detroit News: Longevity guru Peter Attia exits CBS News after Epstein emails surface
Reporting by Scott Nover, Daniel Gilbert, Washington Post / The Detroit News
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
