Why Liver King who eats testicles and organs says he was wrong about intense carnivore diet

The man who ate a diet of liver for more than 10 years has shockingly denounced his carnivore diet, admitting for the first time that he was 'wrong' in a tell-all Netflix documentary.

If you don't know who Brian Johnson is, then you'll probably recognize him as the 'Liver King' - the half-naked muscle man from Texas who gorges on animal organs to his millions of social media followers while preaching a primitive lifestyle.

In a new Netflix documentary, The Untold: The Liver King, we are treated to a horror show of Brian's extreme way of living that is aggressively supersized: tanks, muscles, rifles, trucks, bench presses and explosions - all while touting a carnivore diet and an unapologetic potty mouth.

The diet, which shuns fruit, vegetables, grains and virtually everything that isn't meat, poultry or eggs, isn't advised by most doctors, who've stressed that it poses a host of cardiovascular and gut problems.

Yet that didn't stop The Liver King, his 'Liver Queen' and their two children from chowing down on bull testicles, tongue, thymus, bone marrow, kidneys, liver and fertilized eggs raw for more than 15 years every day.

In one stomach-churning point in the show, Brian and his family gun down a bull and feast from its insides, as per the doctrine of his 'ancestral way' that he claimed cured his sons from their health problems and allergies.

Between the (literal) blood, gore and guts, the episode follows Brian's rise and demise, exposing the impact of the 'steroids scandal' that threatened his businesses, career and reputation in between some rather wild claims - like he doesn't get sunburnt.

However, it's his stark admission that he may have actually been 'wrong' about the whole carnivore diet thing which comes as the biggest shock in the documentary... even more shocking than a freezer-full of cow balls.

Brian Johnson in all his glory (Instagram/liverking)

The Liver King's online empire

Explaining how he got here, Brian, born in 1978 in San Antonio, says he was a 'runt' as a child and lost out on a father figure when his dad passed away at a young age.

He fell in love with the gym, 'the most beautiful f***ing playground', and Arnold Schwarzenegger, who inspired him to become 'the savage f***ing king that I always wanted to be'.

Devouring bovine innards came from Mark Sisson's book which he read while researching ways to help his children overcome anaphylactic shock, as per the story he's told countless times on podcasts.

"And that’s when I decided, holy sh**, organs are really f***ing awesome. I’m going to make a company with all nose-to-tail stuff," he said, leading him to launch Ancestral Supplements in 2016 and wax lyrical about his 'Nine Ancestral Tenets' to his rapidly-growing disciples.

Speaking about his snowballing fame, he said: “I felt new levels of invisibility. That kind of feeling is dangerous.

“I used to hate my f***ing life, and now I’ve made my f***ing fortune.”

Here he's eating raw, fertilised eggs, shell and all (Instagram/liverking)

"I always told the truth"

Questions soon began to arise over whether Johnson had taken steroids to maintain his buff figure, which he point-blank denied several times, instead suggesting the nine tenets were behind his sculpted physique.

The tenets are: 'sleep' (preferably on a wooden pallet), 'eat' (...you know what), 'move', 'shield' (from Wi-Fi and cellphones), 'connect' (with the Earth, barefoot), 'cold' (by plunging into ice water), 'sun', 'fight' and 'bond' (with family).

He also denied the claims in an interview, saying: "The question has always been, 'Do you take steroids? Do you take [performance enhancing drugs]?' The answer to that is no. I've always told the truth, I still tell the truth."

But that all came crashing down in November 2022, when a YouTuber exposed leaked emails that showed he was taking fitness-enhancing drugs, worth around $10,000 a month.

In the documentary, Brian said: "There's no denying that man. I knew he got me."

Johnson's apology after email leak

Following the leak, Johnson apologized, telling his followers that he was 'embarrassed and ashamed' because he 'lied and I misled a lot of people'.

"Yes, I’ve done steroids and yes, I am on steroids monitored and managed by trained hormone clinicians." he said.

However, the video went down like a lead balloon and he was quickly conveyed as a fraud and a snake oil salesman.

When asked by producers if he 'misled' people, he responded frankly: "Absolutely. Yeah."

He then reeled off in an unexpected revelation how he turned to crime at the age of 16, printing money, stealing from his employer and reverting his apartment into a 'chemistry lab' for drugs.

"My perception of risk is becoming distorted," he said of his younger self. "I just never got caught."

Fruit and vegetables were once off the table (Netflix)

"I was starving myself"

Then at the end of the show, we see Brian doing something uncharacteristically extraordinary: Foraging for berries and 'thanking' melon.

He explained: "I was so convinced all the carnivore stuff, that’s what you need to really kick ass in life. I’m convinced now that I was starving myself.

“I guess I want the world to know I was wrong. I got it wrong. I got all of it wrong. I think as each passing day goes by, I realize I don’t know s***. There’s a lot more that I don’t know than I do know. Like an extreme approach to anything probably ain’t f***ing working out.”

In line with his newfound 'enlightening', he's added a tenth tenet: 'Evolve.'

Brian concluded: "People say s*** like 'born again', I don’t f**king know what.. How to describe it.. Other than I feel like I was just kind of meandering through, like I was the f***ing zombie of life.

"I was so intense and so focused on growth and numbers and getting the message out... I have this new freedom.

"I don’t have to lie about anything.”

Untold: The Liver King is available to stream on Netflix.