Liver King, 45, admits lying about taking steroids to achieve his muscular physique

A TikTok influencer known for preaching the benefits of eating raw meat has admitted to taking steroids to achieve his muscular physique.

Brian Johnson – better known by his online handle ‘Liver King’ – admitted in a six-minute video on Friday that he had taken steroids in the past and continued to receive 0.6 milliliters of testosterone each week.

Johnson, 45, rose to internet fame late last year when he began posting fitness videos, often shirtless, that showed off his rippling physique and peculiar eating habits.

The influencer has repeatedly denied in interviews that he used steroids, saying he “stays away from that stuff” while amassing a massive following as well as a multi-million dollar empire.

He instead attributed his physical and financial success to his liver-eating lifestyle – billed to the millions who subscribe to his beliefs as “ancestral living”.

But he took a different tone on Friday by apologizing to his fans for his years of cheating as he tried to explain he had self-esteem issues.

In Friday’s video, Johnson openly admits he lied to the public about his drug use – despite praising the benefits of taking more testosterone.

“I’m making this video to apologize because I screwed up, because I’m embarrassed and ashamed, because I lied,” he begins.

He goes on to explain why he lied to the public saying: “I said it was a complicated as shit subject, at least for me, because before social networks, I was rich and anonymous, and after social media, I’m still rich but no longer anonymous.

“I didn’t expect this kind of exposure in the public eye,” Johnson continued. “It’s been complicated as f*** to navigate.”

“Well, clearly I did it wrong, and I’m here now to set the record straight: yes, I was on steroids, yes I’m on steroids, monitored and managed by a clinician trained in hormone,” he revealed.

Johnson then proceeded to explain why he created the Liver King character, calling it “an experiment to spread the message”. [and] to raise awareness of the 4,000 people a day who commit suicide, the 80,000 people a day who attempt suicide.

“Our people are suffering at record rates from depression, autoimmunity [issues]anxiety, barrenness, low ambition in life,” he says, saying, “Our young men suffer the most, feel lost, weak and submissive.

“So I made it my business to model, teach, and preach a simple and elegant solution called ‘ancestral life’ so that our people would no longer have to suffer, so that we could collectively express our highest form and the most dominant.

“This is my fight,” he said. “That’s why I exist.”

Johnson has amassed millions of dollars and paying subscribers since late last year as he regularly posted videos showing him feasting on raw liver while touting extreme training techniques portrayed as those of a warrior modern caves.

He repeatedly claimed that his appearance was “all natural” and the result of his “nine ancestral principles”: Sleep, Eat, Move, Protect, Connect, Cold, Sun, Fight, and Bond.

The performance helped bolster the online business of internet figure Ancestral Supplements, where users can purchase capsules containing beef organs, fish eggs, bone marrow and other exotic animal products. presented as the key to its success.

All the while, he said in the video posted Friday, he convinced himself that his steroid use “had nothing to do with the ancestral message.”

“I’ve convinced myself that I’m not a competitive athlete of any kind, so who the hell am I fooling?” he said. “I convinced myself it was the vocal minority, usually in the fitness category leading to unproductive conversation, and convinced myself that would be the wrong message to send to 15-year-old boys.

“So I continually rejected it, and only dug myself into a bigger, deeper hole,” he said, adding, “I have only myself to blame.”

Johnson went on to tout the benefits of taking extra doses of testosterone, saying, “I believe there is a time and place for pharmacological intervention, monitored and managed by a hormone physician.”

He revealed he had tried ‘several combinations of peptides in an attempt to increase my growth hormone’ but claimed they hadn’t actually helped before he said he went to see a doctor and started pharmaceutical growth hormone “and I was finally able to manage the therapeutic levels”. within the normal range.’

Johnson also denied taking “other steroids like nandrolone or winstrol” but admitted, “I’ve tried them in the past with no success.”

And, he denied ever having ab implants or ab etching, adding, “I’m sure f*** never did gene editing in Singapore.” I made it all up, it was supposed to be just a joke.

Yet he maintains, “The Liver King brand has nothing to do with the success of my business,” saying “my businesses were already kicking a**, already thriving before Liver King’s public persona, growing 50% year over year and still growing at the same rate afterwards.

It was then that he decided to reveal that he was one of the 85% of Americans who suffer from self-esteem issues, saying, “that’s me, I’m part of this statistical”.

“That’s why I fucked up working to death in the gym,” he said. “That’s why I do 12-15 blood-burning workouts a day just to feel good.”

“Still, I absolutely have to crash to do it, and I’m physically and cognitively destroyed, and the hormone replacement has helped in a profound and significant way,” he claimed. “And I still believe the way to heaven is paved in a fucking hell.”

“I fully admit that I screwed up,” Johnson concluded. “All I can do is own the extreme right now, be better, and lead myself to a better life as a better human.”

The revelations come just days after a fitness personality known only as Derek, famous for exposing steroid use by fellow bodybuilders, released a revealing video accusing the liver king of heavy use of steroids. steroids.

One hour video called “The Lie of the Liver King”, had been viewed nearly 1.5 million times, ae shared exchanges between Johnson and an unnamed bodybuilding trainer.

In the video, Derek – something of a fitness watchdog with more than 1.4 million subscribers – shared emails allegedly sent by Johnson that exposed a full hormonal diet costing him $12,000 a month .

The emails, Derek claimed, were sent to an anonymous bodybuilding trainer in mid-2021, before Johnson launched his Liver King brand and appeared as the CEO of a store that charges 30-65 dollars a bottle for capsules containing grass-fed beef liver.

In these posts, a user with an email address attributed to Johnson lays out plans to gain a million social media followers in a matter of months through intense exercise – aided by three daily injections of human growth hormone (HGH ).

In it, the sender believed to be Johnson laments that he has hit a training wall now that he is in his 40s and asks for advice in an artificial effort to close that gap.

“I have been working for 35 years,” read the initial correspondence.

“I know how to eat, train, rest and recover (I even have a rigid hyperbaric chamber at home)…but…as I’m in my mid-40s, it’s getting harder and harder .”

The sender, whose identity has not yet been confirmed, continues to complain that “the fucking big back is killing me”.

Derek then recounted, in detail, an earlier 2021 email purportedly from Johnson to his own inbox, in which the future Liver King expressed interest in acquiring HGH to enhance his physique.

Less than a year later, Johnson’s videos propelled him to stardom.