Bryan Johnson Says He Was Thrilled About the Idea of Molding His Children Into Adults

When Bryan Johnson dies, as we all do eventually, he will leave behind a wild legacy that includes technological leaps, big ideas, and a possible superiority complex. The entrepreneur and venture capitalist has a net worth of $400 million, but he somehow thinks that people choose to live a certain way because they are lazy. On Dec. 30, 2024, he shared a post to Instagram accusing folks of not prioritizing sleep, eating fast food, and of course, refusing to exercise.

The post doesn't acknowledge Johnson's vast resources. Most of his feed is a demonstration of his wealth and all it can do for him. He puts very little of his personal life on social media, apart from the occasional post with one of his sons, but that's usually work-related. Johnson has three children and based on his public-facing accounts, it's unclear how involved the other two are with his quest for longevity. Here's what we know.

Johnson is pretty good about keeping two of his three children out of the public eye. In an Instagram post from September 2024, Johnson is discussing the beginning of Project Blueprint and references a photo where he is looking at his son Jefferson. "He's not in the frame," says Johnson, "but he and I were working out together and I'm so happy because I am with my son." Johnson grew up in the Mormon church and married a Mormon woman. When they divorced, she stayed in the religion. He left.

Johnson said this put his children in a "tough spot" because choosing a parent almost felt like they were choosing their religious beliefs as well. "The kids kind of split," explained Johnson. "My middle son Talmage came with me. The two others stayed with their mom." He says the joy he felt in the photo was a result of being reunited with Jefferson for a summer while he was visiting.

In a separate Instagram post from August 2024, Johnson said he had his first kid when he was 24. The venture capitalist was born in 1977, which means this would have been sometime around 2001. "I took fatherhood very seriously," says Johnson, who describes the joy he felt in realizing that he would be able to influence the person they would become based almost entirely on how they were raised. "I was endeavoring to really be the best father ... I would do anything for my children."

While we do not know when Johnson and his wife were divorced, we do know that in 2016, he met a woman who would eventually become his fiancée. Taryn Southern is an "award-winning storyteller and creative technologist exploring the intersection of emerging tech and human potential," per her website. People Magazine described their courtship as a "whirlwind romance" that according to a lawsuit, ended after Southern was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2019.

Southern filed her lawsuit in October 2021. In it, she claimed that Johnson repeatedly told her not to worry about money while monopolizing so much of her time and creativity, she grew financially dependent upon him. She also also alleged that Johnson kicked her out of the house they shared in October 2019, while she was undergoing chemotherapy and radiation treatment.

In February 2024, Johnson posted a long missive to X (formerly Twitter) where he laid out his side of the story. He said that Southern had began acting erratically and chalked it up to her chemo treatments, which can drastically change a person's mood. "The relationship was frayed and getting worse by the day," he wrote. "Even if I physically survived, it felt like she was determined to ruin my life."

The post discusses the fact that he offered to move out, but she insisted on moving to get a fresh start. Johnson claimed Southern was lying in the lawsuit about being kicked out and just wanted to play the victim. He also laid out an intense treatment plan for Southern's breast cancer which included speaking with the CEO of Tempus, researching clinical trials, and connecting her with his own doctor. The list goes on.

It's too long to summarize, but the gist is she said one thing happened and he is claiming the opposite. The truth undoubtedly lives somewhere in the middle.