“In the new documentary “Untold: The Liver King,” Brian Johnson, known to millions as the “Liver King,” finally comes clean about the deception that helped build his ancestral lifestyle empire.”
Brian Johnson rose to social media stardom by promoting a primal lifestyle centered around consuming raw organ meats, particularly liver, and following what he called the “nine ancestral tenants” – sleep, eat, move, shield, connect, cold, sun, fight, and bond. His muscular physique and claims that anyone could achieve similar results by following his ancestral lifestyle attracted millions of followers across platforms.
“I want a million followers,” Johnson reportedly told his marketing team in 2021.
Within a year, he had achieved that goal and more, building a supplement business reportedly worth over $100 million annually.
Throughout his meteoric rise, Johnson repeatedly denied using performance-enhancing drugs when questioned directly.
“For the record, I’ve never taken ster*ids,” he insisted on numerous podcasts and interviews.
He challenged skeptics to abandon their “self-limiting beliefs” and follow his ancestral lifestyle instead.
However, the documentary reveals that Johnson’s carefully crafted image crumbled in late 2022 when leaked emails exposed his extensive use of ster*ids and human growth hormone. According to the documentary, Johnson was spending approximately $11,000 monthly on pharmaceutical-grade human growth hormone alone.
After the damning evidence emerged, Johnson finally released an apology video, admitting,
“I’m making this video to apologize because I f***ed up. Because I lied.”
He attributed his ster*id use to childhood insecurities and being bullied as a young man.
Brian Johnson, known online as “Liver King,” makes some startling admissions about his past criminal activities before his rise to social media fame.
During a candid moment in the film, Johnson reveals that his early life included multiple illegal activities.
“My first job was at GNC and I used my brother’s ID to get the job because I wasn’t old enough,” he admits.
This was just the beginning of his criminal behavior. Johnson goes on to detail a scheme where he stole receipt rolls from GNC stores to create fake returns.
“With enough trial and error, all you had to do is make it work one time, and then you just repeat it,” he explains in the documentary.
Even more stunningly, Johnson confesses,
“I used to print money, a lot of it, and it all worked.”
He also mentions turning his apartment into a “chemistry lab” for creating d**gs and participating in “international d**g trading.”
The documentary presents these admissions as part of Johnson’s broader life story before he became the controversial social media personality who gained fame promoting an “ancestral lifestyle” that included eating raw organ meats. Johnson later gained further notoriety when he admitted to using ster*ids despite previously denying it.
The fallout from his admission was significant. The documentary shows Johnson facing difficult interviews where journalists questioned his integrity. His supplement business reportedly lost subscribers, and his credibility was severely damaged.
In the documentary’s final segments, Johnson appears to be searching for redemption and a new direction, admitting that his extreme approach to fitness and nutrition was misguided.
“I got it wrong. I got all of it wrong,” he says, while still maintaining that elements of his ancestral lifestyle message have merit.
