Bryan Johnson, 45, sold his company, Braintree Venmo, in 2013 to PayPal for 800 million. He’s since dedicated his life to reversing his own aging process through a series of medical treatments and experiments he’s branded Blueprint. Hecate reported on that back in January. He now claims to be “aging slower than the average 10 yr old” and that his body is 3 degrees colder. Look at the website for this and tell me it’s not a parody. His entire Instagram is dedicated to his deaging regimen. It’s exactly the kind of thing a massively rich narcissistic tech bro would do. That’s why it’s not surprising to hear that he’s being sued by his ex fiance for leaving her during her breast cancer treatments.
Taryn Southern claims that Johnson love bombed her and convinced her to give up her career in exchange for supporting his. They were engaged to be married and had lived together for three years when she was diagnosed with stage III breast cancer. He kicked her out when she was getting chemotherapy and radiation treatments! People Magazine has the details from the lawsuit:
Software entrepreneur Bryan Johnson, 45, and actress and content creator Taryn Southern, 36, had a whirlwind romance, according to a suit she filed in October 2021 and obtained by PEOPLE.
Southern recalls in the document how her former fiancé swept her off her feet, taking her on lavish vacations, planning a forever future, and even dubbing her “Mrs. Johnson” within weeks of their meeting in 2016.
By March 2018, the pair were living together in Venice, Calif., and engaged to be married. Johnson promised to “take care of her, financially and medically, for the rest of her life,” she claims.
However, “a lifelong partnership with … Johnson came with a steep price,” Southern’s attorneys allege in the complaint, which was filed in the Superior Court of California, County of Los Angeles.
“While repeatedly telling Ms. Southern to stop worrying about money and promising to take care of her for the rest of her life,” reads the document, “Johnson demanded Ms. Southern’s devotion of her time and creative energy to his personal needs and professional aspirations.”
This, Southern’s attorneys claim, left her “financially dependent” on her former fiancé when she was diagnosed with stage III breast cancer.
In October 2019 while Southern underwent chemotherapy, radiation and other treatments, Johnson demanded that she move out of the home they had shared for three years, according to the lawsuit.
By that point, Southern allegedly had “no independent source of steady income” to pay her growing medical bills, the filing states. She claims in the suit that Johnson pressured her to give up her career and instead devote her time to working for him, for free, on branding, business development, speech-writing, and film production.
“Johnson then took advantage of Ms. Southern’s weakened and vulnerable state and repeatedly leveraged his power and financial control over Ms. Southern to try to get her to give up her rights and the promises she was entitled to: financial security and stability in the future and, specifically, to share in the anticipated success of his start-up company,” reads the complaint.
Southern has requested a jury trial and seeks millions in damages for emotional distress and financial losses, court records show.
In his response to Southern’s suit, Johnson claims that she missed the two year statute of limitations and that she never brought up these concerns with him. How many times have we heard of men leaving their partners when they’re going through cancer treatment? This dude is now spending millions on vanity health treatments for himself and built a whole business around it, but he kicked his fiance out when she was financially and medically vulnerable! I wouldn’t be surprised if he got the idea for his business from Southern’s health issues, like “that would never happen to me, I’ll show her. How dare she focus on herself and her own cancer.” What an absolute tool this man is.
I checked Southern’s Instagram and the good news is that she had a clean cancer scan as of November of last year and is in remission. It looks like she has a fabulous life.
I’m not posting the captions to these, but they’re so self-centered and out of touch. He compares himself to Shackleton, Magellan and Lewis and Clarke alongside pictures that make him look like a Westworld reject. He has a team of specialist doctors but won’t shell out for a hairstylist or personal stylist.
He plucks his eyebrows and looks older than 45. HIs anti-aging crap isn’t working.
Before reading the article I just looked at the first photo to guess how old he is. I guessed 50
He thinks plucking his eyebrows makes the Botox less obvious. It does not.
I thought he was in his 50s too! Maybe the 45 is wishful thinking….
Ewww. He looks good in a robotic mannequin over 50 way to someone/ with glaucoma issues way. [I can joke because I have glaucoma but the ewww is strong with this one.]
He also looks ill. Wonder what he has? Hope if he is ill he gets the same support he gave.
He looks kinda gray. And what happened to the skin on his shins/knees? Did he take a fall? Too much blood thinner? And further up on his left thigh, there’s an abrasion of some sort. I guess he doesn’t have a dermatologist on his team (not counting whoever does his botox).
My “core body temperature” is also falling! I have metabolic and absorption problems, lol. (I don’t think he’s plucking his eyebrows; I think they’re thinning.)
He seems like the male Goop…For mehe can do whatever he wants, fasting, cleansing…we all know Keith Richards will outlive him.
He looks bruised & embalmed.
No matter what the “doctors” say, you look like a 50-year-old trying to convince us that your skin is aging slower than a 10-year-old. WTF does that even mean? 10-year-olds don’t age; they are freaking growing and haven’t even gotten to the stage where they start to age. Plus, skin regeneration gets slower the older you are so that boast is not the flex you think it is—we’re all “aging slower than a 10-year-old” and this kind of misleading market-speak is as convincing as you telling us you don’t look 45 (which you don’t. You look 50).
Don’t forget his obvious hair dye.
It’s because his “medical treatments” to slow down the visual effects of aging are just cosmetic treatments. It’s absolute vanity. He could just go to the gym and stay fit, but he’s turned this whole thing into a science experiment that isn’t doing much science.
This definitely explains why he abandoned his fiancée when she had breast cancer an actual condition that he could have dumped his money into. But that’s never how this works.
He’s obviously in excellent shape, but also looks his age…like, you look really great for 45, dude, but you do look 45! Really glad Taryn is healthy and rid of him in her life. What happened is terrible, but good riddance, girl! A life devoted to that guy?? Sounds like hell on earth to me
She should just let go and move on. Dodged a bullet IMO. Why linger in the wake?
I agree! Why let this toxic person live rent-free in her mind? He looks like a well-worked out 50-something….
If she’s strong enough mentally, financially and emotionally, I have no problem with her getting her revenge by damaging his ‘brand’ with a lawsuit. If he was any good at anti-aging, why couldn’t he have used his expertise to demonstrate his ability to lessen ravages of disease with her?
One thing about these “im going to live forever men” is they never become the kind of people anyone wants to live forever.
Also, if you dig a little deeper, so many of these new agey wellness types have a real eugenicist streak. It’s not far from if you live right, you can live forever, to if you get sick it’s because you aren’t living right. Or are somehow defective.
All those chirpy health tips on TV and magazine headlines really feed into this. We have far less control over our health than these people think.
exactly
What a giant tool bag. I hope she gets millions.
Breast cancer haver here, and hopefully it’s okay to share this Reuters link: https://www.reuters.com/article/us-partners-health/men-more-likely-than-women-to-leave-partner-with-cancer-idUSTRE5AB0C520091112
In my Facebook support groups, infidelity and straight up women for having the audacity to be diagnosed with a life threatening disease is very, very common.
@cait – that’s horrifying
It’s horrible but because of those statistics, I wasn’t a bit surprised this guy left her.
Cait, you have my thoughts and well wishes for your treatments, breast cancer runs rampant in my family (genetic mutation) but only one case of pre menopausal, and I know that it is a very difficult journey. Glad you are getting support through groups – not only is the support itself great, I find them helpful to share and receive information with people in other parts of the world too. I asked my breast oncologist if he had read the journal article published by Harvard linking my mutation to breast cancer (previously only thought to be colon, endometrial, uterine cancer really) and he said yes but I’m an oncologist. How did you know about it? And I said “Facebook support group!” Good luck and stay strong!
Yeah my friends (soon to be ex) husband cheated on her after she had breast cancer. We only know about one woman so in theory it was once she was in remission but he’s still trash.
Re Cait’s comment about the situation of many in support groups: this is so terribly sad and frustrating and disappointing and unfair.
If it’s a useful perspective at all, and it might not be, I think it’s also true that, sometimes when we get a terrible illness, people will step up and be amazing and helpful, sometimes to a surprising degree. Luckily there is still a lot of kindness out there. It might not always be the people we expect. But I have found it to be true and am grateful for it.
However I can imagine that the strain of a breakup/desertion on top of catastrophic illness would be very very difficult to bear, physically, financially and emotionally and my heart goes out to people in that situation.
Breast cancer survivor here – Just so you know, there are good guys out there, Mr. Jaded was by my side throughout the whole experience. Years ago I had a neighbour who became a friend, and her husband dumped her when she developed breast cancer. We were absolutely horrified and a group of us helped her through surgeries, and chemo/radiation by driving her to appointments, bringing groceries, cooking, housework, etc. Then a good friend of hers, a gay man, moved in with her and stuck by her to the end (unfortunately she passed away). This guy makes me f*cking sick. I’m so happy she’s in remission and I hope she wins BIG!
@Jaded – oh yeah, I very much married a unicorn. My husband cleared my drains, gave me blood thinner shots, and, well, everything during my treatment. He takes our vows seriously. At the severe risk of an overshare, because I’m not yet in menopause, he made the choice to go get snipped to lower my risk of pregnancy (since I have hormone positive cancer). I KNOW how absurdly fortunate I am to have such a great partner. (And I’m going to be okay, despite tamoxifen’s best efforts to grind me down.)
But it’s just a constant in my support groups – and it makes me truly believe that many men are raised to seek a helper/pseudo-mom, not a partner. The sort of person who would leave their partner over cancer is the sort of person who isn’t getting sex or home-cooked meals or housekeeping duties, but feels entitled to all of that – see: Shannen Doherty, as messy as she is, battling metastatic cancer while her husband openly cheats.
Anyhow, yeah. Go get your boobs screened, y’all. Early detection saved my life.
@Cait — you hit the nail on the head. Many men, even young ones, are raised with the kind of parenting/mothering where they feel they don’t have to take responsibility for caring for their spouse during a severe illness, that it’s *women’s work*, and think it’s their God-given right to put their own personal wants and needs first. Another story — a few years ago a good friend of mine slipped in the shower and cracked a couple of vertebrae in her neck. She was in a collar for months and in a LOT of pain. All her idiot boyfriend was concerned with was not getting laid. He actually had the gall to say “you can still use your hands and mouth can’t you!” She dumped him.
iirc the same statistics about men leaving sick women also show that when men get sick, women are more likely to *stay* — their divorce rate is lower than the national average!
Many years ago I stayed with an ex-boyfriend for several months who had been in a terrible bike accident requiring multiple surgeries and was unable to look after himself. None of his family or friends stepped up to the plate. Everyone told me I was crazy but what was I supposed to do? Let him die? Sometimes you have to put aside bitter feelings to simply do the good and compassionate thing for someone who is in need.
He is so creepy. Sci-fi horror creepy.
He looks embalmed.
Like that “Bodies” exhibit where they illegally acquired corpses and took the skin off so you’d just see the muscle underneath and then arranged them in all sorts of poses and charged people to gawk at it. Like, dude, you look like you’re already dead.
Dude looks like a waxy, embalmed socialite in her 70s. What a massive tool.
The ex-girlfriend was way out of his league and I hope she takes him to the cleaners.
LOL that was my thought- he looks about the same age as all the Real Housewives (who are generally in their 50s-60s), with about the same amount of surgery.
The ex is absolutely gorgeous and has been through a lot. Cancer at any time, but certainly in your 30s just turns your entire life upside down. I wish her all the best.
LOL, aside from the narcissism, ego tripping and way, way too much money, all I see are cosmetic and plastic surgery procedures, probably steroids and instagram filters.
Ugh, he looks like a wannabe cult leader
he looks like a wannabe Patrick Bateman and is giving me mad serial killer eyes. i don’t wanna buy anything he’s selling to look like him…
Not to read crass, but there is no way those two were truly intimate during their courtship.
Everything that reads in her lawsuit was that she was a executive assistant and nothing more and when she unfortunately got sick, he fired her.
He is to self involved to initiate intimacy, let alone have and enjoy it.
It makes sense that her suit would focus on the financial/practical aspects of their relationship because she is trying to prove that she gave up supporting herself to become a direct support to his business and income. If she had continued to bring in her own income during their relationship — there would less basis for a claim because, unfortunately, being in an emotional relationship with a self-centered asshat is not enough for compensation.
Dude gives Patrick Bateman GOOP vibes.
That is NOT an attractive man
I am not even going to address him. He’s not a good person selfish to the core.
However, no self respecting woman should be giving up her career to dedicate herself to supporting a man. She did it because he was rich. Giving up her career was her first mistake.
It’s the same thing with the girlfriend of Tiger Woods. Not having any sort of agreement in case they broke up. 2nd mistake. If I am giving up everything, you better believe you’ll be depositing x amount in an account.
Glad she is in remission, but this shouldn’t be a lawsuit. You can’t sue someone because you were gullible. She fell for the glamour and left her commonsense at the door. Because he’s a horrible human doesn’t mean it’s a valid lawsuit. Lesson learned.
It is easier to make that assessment from the outside, from a distance, and in looking back over time.
The abstract from on high let’s us feel protected. But it also robs us of empathy.
Well said McGee.
No, it doesn’t. I can be empathetic and still think women need to stop this. It is the biggest mistake any woman can make. To give up your independence – the independence millions of women would kill for – to babysit a man. For free. I’m sorry but this is the oldest story. Have we not learned ANYthing? I don’t get this. I honestly don’t. You are responsible for yourself and unless you at the very least have a binding contract (aka marriage), you do not give up your livelihood. Every single woman I know has stories to tell about friends and family this happened to. Not on that level of course.
Nobody is saying this is her fault but when are women going to wake up? I don’t understand this at all. Don’t trust a man on that level. It’s just not sensible.
Now having said that, I took a look at her IG and it is plain as day that the man is pissed that his ex who survived cancer actually looks 10 years younger than she is while he spends millions to look … like this. Karma is a bitch.
Oh, now I know what he reminds me of – that cadaver show, The Bodies!
If I were this former gf I’d just be glad to be rid of him, yuck.
Yes! I just posted that upthread! THAT’s what he looks like!
Yes he’s a creepy cadaver with someone else’s skin. He already looks dead.
Thanks @Celebitchy for enlightening us on the case of that ghoulish Peter Pan entreprejerk seeking immortality at the expense of common sense and compassion. I am appalled.
Why do incredibly selfish people even try to have a relationship?
All they care about is themselves. Always.
Some people are so awful. This guy is an awful person. He should be alone forever.
I hope she wins millions. And gets her health in good shape.
Because selfish people can’t bear being alone and don’t know how to go about life without a sherpa carrying their bullsh*t.
‘Why do incredibly selfish people even try to have a relationship?
All they care about is themselves.’
Unfortunately this is why incredibly selfish people have relationships, to look after themselves. If they can engineer a situation over time where the relationship is all based around them, their lives become significantly easier with someone doing everything for them. There’s a reason statistics show for straight people on average women become happier after divorce, while men become less happy (and cough cough often find themselves a new partner quickly to start doing all those things for them again).
But totally agree that these people SHOULDN’T have relationships, and spare us all from attempting relationships with them
Do people really buy into the BS he’s selling because he looks to be in his late 50’s and his hand and feet look to belong to someone in their 60’s/70’s
I guess this maybe the case if you say something over and over again people will start to believe you????
Even the lead doctor on his anti ageing project doesn’t believe I him.
He stated considering his routine, the results are normal and nothing out of the ordinary.
Johnson keeps saying he has the heart function of a much younger man. Sorry to burst his bubble but that is randomly the case with many people, including some who don’t exercise much. Luck of the draw.
Before reading the article or the headline, based on the picture alone, I thought 1) Is that a man or a woman? 2) That looks like an old person, but in the weirdest way. He looks at least 10 years older than his age and also non-human/humanoid.
There’s another guy in this space, I forgot his name but he’s the bulletproof coffee guy. He spends all his time and money trying to live forever then selling it at an unaffordable price. I saw an interview with him a couple years ago and thought a lot of whaat he said made sense, but he didn’t look as good as his claims made it seem. I saw another interview with him last week and he looks sick. Like he’s aged a lot and, like this guy, looks so much older than his age.
I think like everything else, moderation is key. Find a healthy way of eating that’s sustainable and suits your body, move around some and don’t throw too much garbage at your body. But this constant, daily assault isn’t it.
Also, imagine having so much and all you can think to do with it is stare unceasingly into the mirror and keep trying to make yourself look better. That’s sad. Eat the rich.
That guy looks like crap. Pasty, and android looking. Living in a a beige vanity lab with no friends or family around her. She on the other hand looks full of life and actually living. What is the point of aging “backwards” if you aren’t LIVING. I’m sending her positive vibes and prayers that she completely beats that horrible disease and lives a long happy, healthy life.
Anyone remember the terrifying sister Zelda in the movie “Pet Cemetary”? Major Zelda vibes…
Eek that last picture! He looks like he has pec implants. Nothing attractive or young looking about him, he looks like a sim.
Agree, dude had some pectoral implants. He needs to go back and ask the dr. to reduce them down a bit, so they will look more natural. Now they just look like female breasts after a too severe breast reduction
He is a TEXTBOOK narcissist. All narcissists, regardless of gender, are DEADLY worried about their appearance and image. That he is this shallow, is no surprise.
His ex should be so glad he’s not a part of her life anymore. Hope she wins the lawsuit and cleans him out.
Pretty sure he will fight and have a smear campaign aganist her, though.
These clowns always show themselves to the world, and people are dumb enough to support them.
Social media is just a massive narcissist-fest at this point, and it’s time we start recognizing and applauding true value and healthy, balanced individuals.
He is 45? He looks like a 60 year old who has a very good plastic surgeon. No way that guy is 45.
He also has 3 children – he creeps me out no end. Sadly this type of thing is the norm when it comes to these tech bro’s – they all think they are something special but they are all Steve Jobs wannabe’s.
YES, I distinctly remember, getting the creepiest vibes at the linked celebitchy article that he basically wanted to BE his 18-year-old son.
Not to be that person, but how funny would it be if he died at 50 from some unpredictable disease? Lol.
Is this a really life version of wanting to be a little boy again? And dumping the gf when she couldn’t play mommy anymore, because she was busy having cancer. Geez…
Um, I think his doctors might be taking advantage of him, he looks like a man in his late 50’s.
I’m not defending Mr. Man Nipples at all, but, is his behavior actually something he could have to pay damages for? He’s an asshole, absolutely, but can we sue people just for being heartless assholes? If so, I have some paperwork to file.
All I can think of is Logan’s Run.
He looks like a version of earlier man in his last pic. What tf with that frozen pose? Why is his shin bloodied? Why are his nails painted blue? Is that to make him look 3 degrees colder than everyone else? WTF? Because he certainly doesn’t look younger. Such a self-centered freak!! She is well rid of him, but yes, sue his tiny ass off. Also I’ve read that 20% of men leave when their partners who have cancer, compared to the 2% of women who do so. Newt Gingrich, Mr. Family Values man was one of these douche men, like this guy. I hope she gets millions of his dollars.
Remember John Edwards, former presidential candidate, who was caught having an affair with Rielle Hunter, a filmmaker hired to work for his 2008 presidential campaign, and she had a child with him? All of this took place while his wife, Elizabeth, was fighting breast cancer. When he first admitted to the affair, he said that Elizabeth was in remission, but continued the affair even after her cancer had returned and was found to be terminal. She died on December 7, 2010 but 6 days before, she’d removed him from her will. Of course it ruined his political career and he currently has a personal injury law practice in North Carolina. Reille Hunter and their daughter Quinn have disappeared, thankfully, from public life. Some men…SMH…
Question: WHAT is he sitting on in that last picture? That white stool with a hose at the back? When I first saw it, I wondered: Some sort of home colonoscopy? A, erm, bun warmer? Seriously?
I agree with many of you. I think he looks ill, sort of embalmed, and way older than 45 — and not in a good way. I’m glad to see that Ms Southern is now doing well.
There’s a show on HBO Max/TNT called “Rich and Shameless”. One of the episodes discusses Peter Nygard, a billionaire fashion icon who used his money to pursue anti-aging procedures using stem cells.
The physical results looked similar to this wingnut, only Nygard is much older. They’re all about their appearances but these anti-aging just end making them look ridiculous.
You may be a king or a street sweeper, but sooner or later you dance with the reaper.
LOL Westworld reject, excellent line. Such a sad lonely existence.
He looks every bit of his 45 years…
I think he looks older.
Whatever he’s doing it isn’t working.
Stage III breast cancer survivor here. Was diagnosed at 34. My partner of three years at the time was a rock. He was amazingly supportive through the whole long process. I can’t imagine the stress of being dumped at that time. We are still together 8 years later and just about to have our second kid. Good ones do exist.
God, he’s pathetic.
Who’s gonna break the news to him that one day, he will die–regardless of what he does?
From his website: “The enemy is Entropy. The path is Goal Alignment via building your Autonomous Self; enabling compounded rates of progress to bravely explore the Zeroth Principle Future and play infinite games.”
This is some Ayn Rand garbage. I am not surprised.
He looks like a version of earlier man in his last pic. What tf with that frozen pose? Why is his shin bloodied? Why are his nails painted blue? What a self-centered freak!! She is well rid of him, but yes, sue his tiny ass off. Also I’ve read that 20% of men leave when their partners have cancer, compared to the 2% of women who do so. Newt Gingrich, Mr. Family Values, was one of these douche men, like this guy. I hope she gets millions of his dollars.
My best friend’s husband also left both her and their kid while she was still in remission. He came back provided she abide by a set of conditions. Called her a “dream killer” for having the audacity to get very serious breast cancer which stopped him from relocating overseas. Expects her to support his decision to get a nose job although he couldn’t care less about her need to be near her parents while she recovers from breast cancer. They are still together but I hate him. World’s biggest tool.
You know who else doesn’t think he’ll die… Rupert Murdoch. Great company to keep.
I’m glad she’s happy and healthy now, and hope she wins her lawsuit. Going through cancer treatment is a physical and mental roller coaster and being treated so poorly by your partner is just so sad. He looks like a movie villain -the type Christian Bale or Jared Leto will lose 30 pounds for to play in a dystopian sci-fi movie.
He now claims to be “aging slower than the average 10 yr old.”
10 year olds age really fast. Blink and they’re 13.
I also guessed he was a 50 year old lesbian before I scrolled down and read the article. Ooops. I apologize to lesbians everywhere.
Bingo, I feel so bad for your poor friend. I hope she has good friends around her, like you, who love and support her as she deserves.
What happened to her was awful, of course, but I’m not certain if she actually has a legal foot to stand on. Unfortunately, the law isn’t really on the side of people who aren’t joined in marriage of civil union. I suspect a lot of it will boil down to whether the judge feels actual financial abuse went on here, or if this is a woman who just made some very poor decisions in terms of her career and the partner for whom she gave it up.
This does exacerbate my sense that a lot of people, but particularly women, really need to better inform themselves about the red flag behaviors of abuse and/or personality disorders like NPD. Too many people are willing to convince themselves they’ll be the partner for whom it’s different. This stuff rarely happens out of the blue. There’s always a long series of signs that were either overlooked in other places that lead up to the moment where it goes to shit.
My blunt feeling is that when you live in a country like America without social safety nets in place to protect you in case of financial ruin, you have to be very savvy about the kind of sacrifices you make for partners. There’s nothing wrong with being a stay at home partner, but it is an immense financial risk in this country in ways it wouldn’t be elsewhere, and women need to start being honest with themselves about that.
For me, somebody who grew up with a narcissistic step parent, who watched my mother screwed over by my father in a divorce, my hackles would’ve immediately gone up the moment my partner asked me to quit my job without a legally binding contract between us. That screams of isolationism, forcing your partner to depend on you financially. It’s a very common tactic of abusers in order to limit your options for escape. The problem is, unless you have the experience or well read on the signs, this kind of stuff can be misread as romantic or generous on the part of the abuser, and, unfortunately, it’s always the victim that winds up paying the biggest price.
He looks like scientists tried to make a robotic prototype of a human but then they rejected it because it was too waxy and creeped people tf out.
I loved ALL the roasts here 😂