Peter Attia Just Apologized for His ‘Tasteless’ Email Exchanges with Jeffrey Epstein

Longevity expert and health guru Dr. Peter Attia is one of the latest public figures to be connected to child sex offender Jeffrey Epstein by the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ).

On January 30, the DOJ released 3.5 million documents related to the Epstein investigation, per the requirements of the 2025 Epstein Files Transparency Act. Attia’s name appeared in more than 1,700 documents in the release, including direct messages between the two.

On February 2, Attia published a statement on X apologizing to his patients and his staff for his connection to Epstein, who died in prison in 2019 after he was indicted on federal charges of sex trafficking minors in Florida and New York.

“You’ve put your trust, your credibility, and your hard work into what we have built together, and I take that responsibility seriously,” Attia wrote. “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.”

Attia then stated he was not involved in any criminal activity and that his correspondence with Epstein had nothing to do with sexual abuse or exploitation. “I was never on his plane, never on his island, and never present at any sex parties,” Attia added. “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.”

Attia’s emails with Epstein are available on the DOJ website. In one email, dated June 24, 2015, Attia told Epstein that he “got a fresh shipment.” Epstein replied “me too” alongside a photo that the DOJ has redacted. After a brief back-and-forth, Attia wrote, “You the biggest problem with becoming friends with you? The life you lead is so outrageous, yet I can’t tell a soul.”

In his statement, Attia stated that he had received a shipment of Metformin, a diabetes medication, and that his correspondence referred to the drug. “He replied with the words ‘me too’ alongside a photograph of an adult woman,” Attia wrote. “I responded with crude, tasteless banter. Reading that exchange now is very embarrassing, and I will not defend it. I’m ashamed of myself for everything about this. At the time, I understood this exchange as juvenile, not a reference to anything dark or harmful.”

Attia said in his online statement that he first came into contact with Epstein in 2014, and met with him on “seven or eight occasions” at Epstein’s home to discuss research. He said he last met with Epstein in the spring of 2019.

“I was not his doctor, though several times I answered general medical questions and recommended other providers to him,” Attia said in his statement on X.

Attia, 52, is the co-author of the New York Times bestseller Outlive: The Science & Art of Longevity, and the operator of a concierge medical practice in Austin, Texas. He also hosts the popular health podcast The Peter Attia Drive, and is the owner of the longevity app Outlive and the publisher of a weekly newsletter. In 2024 Attia was the subject of an Outside magazine profile. We followed Attia’s training regimen for several months before interviewing him at his clinic in Texas.

“There are lots of people in the last decade of their life who are wonderfully happy with their children and their grandchildren, all those things,” Attia told Outside in the story. “But I just don’t meet many people whose bodies aren’t aching and who aren’t thinking, God, I wish I could do something about this. And the truth of it is, most of those people didn’t do all they could to reduce the probability of that.”

In his statement, Attia said he confronted Epstein in 2018 after reading a Miami Herald expose that provided multiple sources accusing Epstein of operating a sex trafficking ring in Florida and New York City with underage girls. “In hindsight, even attempting to facilitate accountability was a mistake and once again reflected just how naive I was at the time,” Attia wrote. “Once the full scope of his actions was clear, disengagement should have been the only appropriate response. My intent does not change that, and I regret not drawing that boundary immediately.”