Peter Attia resigns as CBS News contributor
Epstein files surface after January hire, contributor model turns credibility into a removable asset
Images
Peter Attia at the SXSW conference and festivals in Austin, Texas, on 8 March 2025. Photograph: Renee Dominguez/SXSW Conference & Festivals/Getty Images
theguardian.com
Peter Attia lasted less than a month as a CBS News contributor.
According to The Guardian, the longevity doctor resigned after newly released documents from the US government’s Jeffrey Epstein investigation showed multiple communications between Attia and Epstein in the mid‑2010s—years after Epstein’s 2008 guilty plea involving a minor. Business Insider reports Attia appears more than 1,700 times in the tranche and has also stepped down from roles at David Protein and as an adviser to Eight Sleep.
The episode is being treated publicly as a question of personal judgement. Inside a newsroom, it reads more like a procurement mistake. CBS News hired Attia as one of 19 new contributors in late January as part of an overhaul led by editor‑in‑chief Bari Weiss, The Guardian reports. “Contributor” roles are a low‑commitment way to buy reach: they import an audience, a brand, and a ready‑made persona without the long lead time and cost of building expertise in‑house. The drawback is that the institution also imports the contributor’s reputational liabilities—often on a timeline the newsroom does not control.
Attia’s resignation illustrates how quickly a media organisation can flip from acquisition to containment. The Guardian reports CBS staff were unhappy the network did not move faster after the file release; an internal list of contributors circulated last week omitted Attia’s name. By Monday, his resignation had been communicated to booking staff, according to reporting cited by both outlets. When a contributor is still “newly established” and has “not yet meaningfully begun”, as Attia’s spokesperson put it to The Guardian, the cost of cutting ties is minimal. The larger cost is borne elsewhere: viewers are left to infer what was known, what was checked, and what standards apply when a newsroom puts an outside figure on air.
Attia, for his part, issued an apology acknowledging “embarrassing, tasteless and indefensible” emails, while denying criminal involvement and saying he never flew on Epstein’s plane or visited his island, The Guardian reports. That distinction may matter legally. Editorially, the problem is simpler: the credibility of a news brand is being bundled with a personal brand, then unbundled the moment it becomes expensive.
CBS announced Attia as a contributor days before the Epstein files dump. Within weeks, he had resigned from CBS and at least two corporate roles tied to his public profile.