'Liver King' Influencer Who Follows Raw-Organ Diet and Touts Natural Lifestyle Admits He's on Steroids: 'I Lied'

Mar. 15, 2025

Photo: Liver King/Instagram

Looks like the’Liver King’needs to readjust his crown.

Brian Johnson, who gained a huge following on social media for his raw-organ diet, jacked physique and Neanderthal-like workouts, is coming clean with fans, admitting that he’s on steroids.

Steroids should not be taken without a prescription from a doctor, and prolonged use can lead to health problems.

Since joining TikTok in August 2021, Johnson has promoted the health benefits of a natural lifestyle which he calls “primal living.” He follows a raw-organ diet, citing the high nutritional content of liver, bone marrow, tongue and testicles. He sleeps on wood slats. He does extreme exercises to mimic what his ancestors might have needed to do to survive.

Bearded with bulging muscles, he usually appears shirtless and often preaches to his 3.7 millionTikTokfollowers from an actual throne.

But earlier this week, Johnson, 41, sent followers a different kind of message.

" I f—— up. Because I’m embarrassed and ashamed," Johnson says in his confessional video. “I’m here now to set the record straight.”

Johnson’s apology came a few days after another bodybuilderreleased a videoshowing emails that supposedly detailed Johnson’s steroid use, something Johnson has vehemently denied over and over again in interviews since launching his persona.

“Liver King the public figure was an experiment to spread the message,” Johnson says in his apology video. “Our young men are hurting the most, feeling lost, weak, and submissive, so I made it my job to model, teach and preach a simple, elegant solution called ‘Ancestral Living’ and the ‘Nine Ancestral Tenets’ so our people don’t have to suffer.”

Prior to launching on social media, he made his money selling nutritional supplements through a company called Ancestral Supplements, which he said brings in more than $100 million a year, according to aninterview with GQ.

As for why he used steroids and wasn’t honest about it? “I convinced myself that I’m not a competitive athlete of any kind,” he said in the video. “So who am I cheating?”

“I dug myself into a deeper hole. I only have myself to blame. I will be better.”

source: people.com