Johnson calls his goal to live to 200 years old “the most important revolution in the history of Homo sapiens.”
What would you do if you had $800 million, equivalent to 20 trillion VND, at the age of 36?
Everyone has their own answer, but for Bryan Johnson, who sold his startup Braintree to PayPal in 2013 for that amount, he has allocated $2 million (equivalent to 50 billion VND) each year to “buy back youth”—in the literal sense of the phrase.
Billionaire Bryan Johnson, left is a photo from 2017 (when he was 40 years old), and right is a photo from 2023 (when he is 46 years old), after spending $2 million each year on rejuvenation methods.
It is important to emphasize that 50 billion VND a year, equivalent to 137 million VND per day, is the amount Johnson spends to personally experiment with a range of medications, chemicals, and rejuvenation methods on his own body.
Some of the experiments Johnson conducts have even reached a level of “madness,” including taking plasma from his 18-year-old son and transfusing it into his own body in hopes of rejuvenating his blood…
The World’s Most Life-Loving and Death-Fearing Billionaire
Over the past five years, Johnson has hired 30 personal doctors to work in his home, each with the sole mission of advising him on what to eat, drink, and do each day to combat aging that occurs every 24 hours.
As a result, Johnson has adhered to an extremely strict diet and lifestyle during this time. He consumes few calories, practices intermittent fasting, but in return, Johnson takes up to 111 supplements, and this number is not exaggerated.
Bryan Johnson takes up to 111 supplements each day.
In addition to common supplements like zinc, vitamin B, and vitamin D, Johnson also takes ginger extract, garlic, and Indian ashwagandha, a herb believed to reduce cortisol from stress, improve sleep, and boost testosterone levels in men.
The billionaire uses lycopene to strengthen blood vessels, metformin to combat intestinal polyps, and a mixture of turmeric, black pepper, and ginger root to lower liver enzymes. He also consumes chlorella powder, spermidine, synthetic amino acids, creatine, collagen peptides, cacao flavanols, and Ceylon cinnamon…
The chemicals he uses on his body include Minoxidil to prevent hair loss, Nicotinamide for skin rejuvenation, and Blueprint, a proprietary supplement developed by scientists he hired.
His experiments have even become extreme, as Johnson has ingested lithium, the same substance found in your phone battery, in hopes that a low dose of this neurotoxin could stimulate his brain to become sharper and healthier.
Last year, Johnson experimented with taking blood from his son and transfusing it into himself.
In one experiment last year, Johnson convinced his 17-year-old son to donate plasma for him, with a frequency of several liters each month, hoping to rejuvenate his blood and reverse signs of aging in all his body cells.
Johnson then took his own blood to donate back to his biological father, who is now in his 70s, hoping to help him rejuvenate as well. However, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) stated that blood transfusion therapies like Johnson’s have no scientific basis and are ineffective.
Continuing to Experiment with New Rejuvenation Methods
Admitting that the plasma transfusion method was ineffective, Johnson recently posted on social media that he is trying a new rejuvenation method called “extracellular matrix injections derived from adipose tissue.”
This method involves liposuction to separate extracellular matrix networks that connect the spaces between cells and then injecting them directly beneath the epidermis to maintain skin fullness.
Johnson applied it to his own face, which resulted in him appearing in photos with a swollen face. “That was a severe allergic reaction“, the billionaire admitted. “The condition got worse and worse until I could barely see anything.”
Johnson’s face swelled up after reacting to the extracellular matrix injection therapy.
Johnson’s allergic reaction stemmed from the extracellular matrix he obtained from a donor’s fat rather than his own fat cells. “You can use your own fat cells for this purpose, but the problem is that I don’t have enough fat on my body to extract anymore. So, I had to use someone else’s fat“, Johnson explained.
His need to do this was also out of necessity; the billionaire mentioned that he had to inject the extracellular matrix back into his face to avoid looking gaunt. This was a consequence of adhering excessively to the dietary and rejuvenation protocols set by his personal doctors.
“My daily calorie intake has decreased from 2,500 to 1,950. As a result, I became really skinny and lost a lot of fat, especially in my face. My biometric data has improved, but I look emaciated. People think I look like I’m about to die,” Johnson confessed on his Instagram.
Johnson’s body has no excess fat.
It would mean nothing if the indicators showed you are young inside, but your outside appearance looks like you are on the verge of death.
Until now, Johnson has been known for closely monitoring all his body’s indicators. Each morning, after waking up, he immediately steps on a bioelectrical impedance scale to measure his weight, body mass index, hydration level, and body fat percentage.
Body temperature, heart rate, blood sugar, and blood oxygen levels in Johnson’s body are also recorded. All indicators allow the doctors to reference them once again after 60 minutes, when Johnson finishes 25 exercises in total.
After that, Johnson showers, personalizes his hygiene, and begins applying chemicals to his body. He reportedly applies up to 7 types of sunscreen and body cosmetics, reaching every nook and cranny of his body, including a specific antioxidant cream for his gums.
Every week, Johnson participates in an acid peel treatment, laser therapy, and electrical stimulation to the pelvic floor. Each month, he undergoes a comprehensive health checkup, with dozens of tests, from blood biochemistry, ultrasounds, and full-body MRIs, to colonoscopies and tests for stool and urine…
Johnson reportedly applies up to 7 types of sunscreen and body cosmetics, reaching every nook and cranny of his body, including a specific antioxidant cream for his gums.
Johnson stated that recent tests show his heart has the parameters of a 37-year-old, his skin resembles that of a 28-year-old, and his lung capacity is that of an 18-year-old. Notably, Johnson’s physiological capacity, related to the speed of his penile erection, can be compared to that of a teenager.
However, in exchange for all those parameters, Johnson has lost all the fat on his body, including facial fat. “Recently, we [Johnson and his team of 30 doctors] discovered that facial fat is quite important for how people perceive youth. It doesn’t matter how good my biological indicators are if I don’t have facial fat.“
Therefore, Johnson and his doctors launched a new project called “Baby Face Project”, aimed at restoring fat to his face. Unfortunately, the project has so far failed. After 7 days of severe allergic reactions, Johnson reported that his face had returned to “normal.” But “normal” here still means it looks thin and gaunt.
“We will have to continue to build a plan for the next experiment,” Johnson wrote.
Bryan Johnson is known for being very meticulous about his appearance.
Obsessed with Youth and Immortality
Billionaire Bryan Johnson was born on August 22, 1977, in Utah and is the second child in a family with three brothers and one sister. After his parents divorced, Johnson lived with his mother and stepfather, who owned a transportation company.
Even as a college student, Johnson showed a passion for business and entrepreneurship. He earned his tuition by selling mobile phones and service packages to fellow students.
In the early 2000s, Johnson used the capital he earned from selling phones to invest in a company called Inquist, which specialized in providing voice-over-internet services. His experience at Inquist later helped Johnson realize that the internet could not only allow people to make free calls but was also the future of financial services.
In 2007, Johnson founded Braintree, one of the world’s first online payment services. With the green market it created, Braintree quickly made it into the top 50 of the 500 fastest-growing companies according to Inc. magazine.
Bryan Johnson in 2015, before choosing a rejuvenation lifestyle.
In 2013, PayPal, then still part of eBay, recognized that if they wanted to grow quickly and strongly, they would need to acquire Braintree. Johnson agreed to sell Braintree in a record deal worth $800 million, equivalent to more than 20 trillion VND.
In interviews, Johnson shared that although he was financially successful, that success came at the cost of his health and youth. Johnson had suffered from severe depression since 2004, continuing even after selling his company.
The subsequent breakdown of his marriage led Johnson to contemplate suicide. Only after overcoming this difficult period did he begin to gain awareness of his life. He became obsessed with the idea of rejuvenating himself and pursuing immortality.
Austerity in Single Life… Until Age 200
As mentioned, Johnson has spent millions of dollars each year to realize his rejuvenation idea. Besides that, this requires him to live a highly disciplined life.
Johnson goes to bed before 9 PM and wakes up before 5 AM. A reporter from Time entered Johnson’s bedroom and described it as a vault with “nothing: no pictures, no books, no television, no water cup, no phone charger, no clothes, no towels, no mirror, nothing.”
Johnson’s bedroom contains nothing but a bed and his skincare devices.
Johnson stated that the bedroom is merely a place to sleep; he does not read or work there. The only two items in the bedroom are a special bed capable of emitting lasers to stimulate collagen to rejuvenate the skin and a device worn on his penis to monitor erectile function during sleep.
“On average, I have 2 hours and 12 minutes of erections each night to a certain degree. An 18-year-old’s average is 3 hours and 30 minutes“, Johnson said. However, he views this as a health indicator rather than engaging in casual sex, which Johnson refers to as “the mind’s debauchery”, believing it would affect his longevity.
This is also why Johnson chose a life of celibacy.
“If I date someone and then share my habits and lifestyle with them, after hearing it, they would no longer want to date me“, he said, listing “10 reasons why women would dislike me“, which include: dining at 11:30 AM, going to bed at 8:30 PM, not engaging in small talk, not traveling or taking long vacations, and especially not sleeping together.
“Waking up suddenly in the middle of the night would greatly impact the entire rejuvenation process I am pursuing, because once I wake up, it is very difficult to fall back asleep. Thus, sleeping with a partner is a huge obstacle“, Johnson noted.
“Nonetheless, women are not my number one priority in life“, Johnson added. In previous interviews, the billionaire noted that his top priority in life at this moment is to rejuvenate his body and live at least until 2177, which would be the year he turns 200.
