'Felt Sick To My Stomach': Bryan Johnson Recalls Video Call With Jeffrey Epstein 8 Years Ago

Last Updated:February 02, 2026, 10:54 IST

American tech billionaire Bryan Johnson said a brief video call with Jeffrey Epstein years ago left him feeling sick to his stomach.

File photos of Bryan Johnson/Jeffrey Epstein (AFP)

American tech billionaire Bryan Johnson on Monday opened a searing social media thread recounting a brief encounter with Jeffrey Epstein via a video call, and how that experience made him feel sick to his stomach.

Johnson also said that experience shaped his view of recent global events tied to the newly public Epstein files and the rise of a viral artificial-intelligence platform he called “Moltbook."

In a series of posts on X, Johnson wove together personal impression, psychological theory and cultural commentary, prompting wide discussion online.

Johnson said that about eight years ago, he was introduced via video call to Epstein while building his neurotechnology company Kernel.

“After a ten minute video call I immediately called the person who put us in contact and told him that Epstein seemed like a very dark person. I felt sick to my stomach," he wrote.

“Being in his proximity felt dangerous," he mentioned.

He wrote that Epstein dominated most of the call.

“He just talked to me. Rammed his thoughts, his plans, his accomplishments, who he knew, what he wanted."

“I remember the call dragging on. It wasn’t part of my algo to check if someone being introduced to me was a registered sex offender. Instead, the moment the call ended, it was an immediate no. A hard, instinctive ‘fuck no.’"

He mentioned he never spoke with Epstein again.

Johnson then connected that personal memory with public developments this week around the release of the Epstein files, a vast trove of documents, photos, videos and communications linked to Epstein’s criminal networks and social web that the United States Department of Justice has been publishing under the Epstein Files Transparency Act, a federal law passed by Congress in 2025 requiring wide disclosure of materials related to the investigations.

On January 30, 2026, the DOJ made public more than 3 million pages of records, 2,000 videos and 180,000 images connected to long-running probes into Epstein’s criminal conduct and associations, the largest tranche yet of a dataset that now totals roughly 3.5 million pages.

The material includes investigative reports, travel logs, flight manifests, emails and files tied to cases in New York and Florida, and has brought renewed scrutiny to Epstein’s contacts with a wide range of public figures.

Critics of the release, including survivors’ attorneys, have argued that the handling of the files, including redaction failures that exposed victims’ identities, has been “outrageous" and traumatic for those affected, and that powerful enablers may remain unnamed.

Johnson wrote, “The combined force of the Epstein files and moltbook [which media accounts have described as a new social network built for autonomous AI agents that has quickly gone viral online] created severe psychological dislocation this week. Societal leader-caretakers were revealed as malefactors, and humans may no longer be the protagonists of the future."

In Johnson’s account, exposure to the Epstein files provoked what he described as the brain’s “fight" response.

“The images, videos and emails activated our mirror neurons to physically experience the trauma. The brain registered these malefactors as threats but offered no reprisal other than wailing into the digital void."

Critics and participants alike describe Moltbook as a space where bots interact with each other in ways that raise questions about the future of human engagement with technology.

Johnson wrote that this phenomenon triggered a “freeze" reaction.

“Moltbook was a simulation of a future where human cognition has no value and is viewed as depravity. Dopamine flatlines as motivation evaporates. What does one aspire to anymore?"

He tied these elements together by arguing that simultaneous shock at entrenched abuses and the perceived decline of human relevance has flooded the collective nervous system.

“Simultaneously, our maps of social hierarchy and motivation were devastated. The system is rigged, predatory, and untrustworthy. There’s no ladder to climb because it’s an illusion."

Johnson wrote, asserting this dual blow collapsed serotonin and left people “paralysed and deep worthlessness."

Johnson’s framing drew on psychological language and archetypal imagery, including the idea that the “Good Father" in society had been replaced by a “Devouring Father," leaving civilians “orphans" without models of safety or protection.

He wrote, “When animals are put into similar situations of fight/flee/freeze, they enter into a dissociative anaesthesia, disconnected from reality, emotionally numb and indifferent."

While Johnson stopped short of offering specific policy proposals in the posts, he closed with a message of cautious optimism, saying, despite the “awful" feeling of these moments, he suggested they could become “the kindling that allows for new things to be borne into the world," and said he would soon share more on what should be done next.

News world 'Felt Sick To My Stomach': Bryan Johnson Recalls Video Call With Jeffrey Epstein 8 Years Ago

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