Jordan Peterson’s disappearance from the public eye has led to persistent speculation the celebrity shrink’s journey into fringe online wellness fads contributed to his decline.
In recent years the Canadian psychologist, 63, has branched into the biohacking trend, where online health gurus push all-meat diets, peptide amino acid supplements, stem cell injections and other health measures, some of which aren’t sanctioned or available in the US.
His family maintains he is only suffering akathisia — a medication-induced movement disorder characterized by intense inner restlessness.
They claim this was a result of Peterson’s addiction to Benzodiazepines, also known as benzos, a class of psychoactive prescription depressants including brand names Valium, Ativan, and Klonopin, which he began taking in 2017.
In 2020 Peterson claimed after intense withdrawal he was now clean and sober. However, that detox involved another unconventional medical journey.
Peterson flew to Russia for assistance kicking the habit, where he was injected with propofol — the same drug which killed Michael Jackson in 2009 — to enter into a medically induced coma, believing he could ride out the withdraw unconscious in a Russian ICU.
He posted vacation snaps standing in Red Square with his daughter and emerged from the Moscow hospital a month later.
From there, he traveled to Belgrade, Serbia, to a clinic specializing in “neurological restoration” where he remained for several months. Clinicians prescribed him a complex cocktail of sedatives, antidepressants, and opiates to help him relax and manage the debilitating withdraw from the benzos — another sedative. The clinic also reportedly used psychological tricks designed to create a neurological aversion to narcotics.
At that time while on the new concoction daughter Mikhalia said her dad seemed “stoned” but “at least started to relax.”
However, independent reporter Scott Carney thinks all of these treatments had more effect than the family is letting on.
“The Petersons remain devoted to a speculative, experimental treatment pathway that keeps failing them,” he claimed in a video report. “[Mikhalia] admits her father has received ‘hordes’ of stem cell treatments during a period when he’s been getting progressively sicker.”
The heartbreaking news of Peterson’s struggle with addiction also put a big dent in his multi-million dollar image as the wise, tough-love father figure to a generation of dissident, online meme-sters.
Peterson-watchers and fans alike who spoke to The Post said it was a slap to realize the man who got famous telling young men to “clean your room” — a metaphor for personal responsibility — had been secretly living as a disordered pill-popper.
Nonetheless, his career continued to endure after rehab in Russia, signing a multi-million dollar deal with conservative news site Daily Wire in 2022, writing another bestselling book, and launching a subscriber-based educational video series, “Peterson Academy.”
Three months after Peterson’s last public appearance in May 2025 his daughter announced he was “taking some time off of everything” due to a severe CIRS flare-up. Shortly thereafter, Peterson was hospitalized with pneumonia and sepsis and spent nearly a month in the ICU where he was described by family as being “near death.”
The Peterson family says he had a bout of sepsis happened following an intubation in Switzerland.
They also publicly dispelled a rumor which had circulated claiming he had contracted sepsis after stem cell treatments from Canadian doctor Adeel Khan.
Wife Tammy told The Post: “This is a rumor. There was no sepsis associated with any stem cell treatments. There was no stem cell treatment in Switzerland at all. He never received a stem cell infusion from Dr. Khan. He had a localized elbow injection years ago, with no side effects. Sepsis came as a complication in the ICU during his stay in Switzerland last fall.”
Daughter Mikhaila says exposure to toxic mold, resulting in a condition called CIRS, reignited the akathisia her father had five years ago. Chronic cases of akathisia lasting longer than six months are rare, according to the National Institute of Health.
Stem cell treatments remain controversial, and are not approved in the US or Canada for treatment of pain, arthritis or anti-aging.
Regenerative stem cell therapy uses unspecialized cells — harvested from fat, bone marrow, umbilical cords or placentas — to repair damaged tissues, usually relating to sports injuries or age-related decline.
In recent years it’s exploded into the online wellness influencer scene as the ultimate anti-aging status symbol, with TikTok docs and biohacking gurus pushing $5,000 to $100,000K overseas miracle cures.
In 2023, Peterson invited celebrity longevity doctor Khan onto his podcast where he revealed Khan was treating both him and his wife Tammy for chronic pain.
Khan runs his own Eterna Health longevity clinics out of Cabo San Lucas in Mexico and Dubai and has A-list allies, including the Kardashian-Jenner families, having treated Kim and Kylie.
Although there are no blemishes on Khan’s professional record, his medical license in Canada has lapsed, The Post found.
Eterna Health acknowledged his license “expired while he has been working on research and development abroad” and “is currently in the process of being renewed.” They also added Khan has not been treating patients since his license expired.
Peterson is also not the first of Khan’s patients to later experience serious health troubles.
Functional medicine celebrity Dr. Mark Hyman, Hollywood director Justin Baldoni and the manosphere guru Adam Schaffer have all promoted Khan to their audiences in the past.
They have also all suffered consequences shortly after stem cell treatments. Hyman got sepsis, Baldoni a spine infection and Schaffer’s wife traveled to Cabo for a fertility stem cell injection into her ovaries. He claimed after 48 hours she had clear signs of sepsis, but in a later episode of his podcast theorized it may have been a storm of several reactions plus a virus she picked up.
Sepsis is an infection which wouldn’t be a caused by a stem cell treatment itself, but could be picked up afterward.
Khan’s company denied there was any link between his treatments and his past patients’ problems.
“Eterna Health has facilitated treatment for thousands of patients, with 99% of patients experiencing positive outcomes. As with any medical treatment, individual responses can vary, and some patients may experience auto-immune reactions, which is why outcomes are closely monitored and protocols are continuously refined,” a spokesperson said.
“There have been zero cases of sepsis linked to the clinical environment, hospital setting, or biologic materials used across Eterna’s partner facilities. Eterna partnered clinics regularly undergo audits and maintain full compliance with all health and safety standards set by regulatory authorities where they are located.”
But non-FDA approved treatments may carry increased risk.
“When you’re dealing with intravenous products that are not stable and not safe [by FDA standards], you’re playing with fire. Once you go on the bloodstream, that’s it,” Dr. Jesse Morse, a Florida-based sports medicine stem cell doctor and critic of Khan, told The Post.
Peterson’s wife Tammy previously told The Post she was fed up with speculation that the celeb shrink’s journey into unusual health fads had contributed to his illness.
“This is a rumor that detracts from the actual issue at hand, [which is] akathisia,” she reminded.
Perhaps it was best put in unsealed court documents from the now-settled lawsuit between Baldoni and actress Blake Lively. One internal text exchange from Baldoni’s PR team revealed in court docs read:
“[Baldoni] said he got stemcells in cabo so that’s probably why he has an infection now.”
“And then agrees to post about it and so he gets it for free.”
