♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ [cheers and applause] ♪ ♪ >> this is "nightline." >> tonight, the liver king. bulging biceps and six-pack abs made him a social media sensation. >> the name is liver king because liver is king. >> the advocate for extreme workouts and eating raw organ meat. but was it all a lie?

>> i was taking performance-enhancing drugs. these only nine tenants that got me here. >> plus, one-on-one with the man dubbed america's preacher. his wisdom. >> you will get past the obstacle. it's up to you to see the opportunity. >> he has many interests. >> i live without lanes. >> politics. >> as for the political frontier, we change of mischa >> during strategy to change how we live. and memorial day attributes. remembering the nation's greatest heroes, their sacrifice and service. >> "nightline" will be right back. thanks to skyrizi, i'm on my way with clearer skin. 3 out of 4 people achieved 90% clearer skin at 4 months. and skyrizi is just 4 doses a year after 2 starter doses. serious allergic reactions

and an increased risk of infections or a lower ability to fight them may occur. tell your doctor if you have an infection or symptoms, had a vaccine, or plan to. nothing on my skin means everything! ♪ nothing is everything ♪ ask your dermatologist about skyrizi. learn how abbvie could help you save.

♪ ♪ >> good evening, thank you for joining us. we begin tonight with the social media influence are known as the liver king. he's earned millions of followers extolling the gestures of ancestral thing and extreme fitness. part of the world of endless online fitness stars now raising questions about how men cope with body dysmorphia and steroid abuse. here's abc's chief national correspondent matt gutman for another look. ♪ ♪

>> i'm here outside houston, texas, in this community of mega-mansions. to me one of the most controversial people on the internet. i've been hounding him for a year to do these interviews. >> what took you so long. get in here. >> we are going to have a great time today. >> you're going to have a good time torturing me. i'm already a little nervous. >> has anybody been keeping count? >> as far as internet's liberties go, there's nobody quite like liver king. the bulging muscles, bushy beard, the unwashed caveman vibes.

in front of the camera, liver king is a walking meme genera generator. bewildering his millions of followers and lots of haters with his bombastic persona. >> more! yeah! fearless. powerful, manly, unkempt. >> why eat vegetables when you can eat testibles >> you know it. >> it's memorable. >> it was either that or vegetables. >> then there is his seemingly never ending quest to scale the highest peaks of mount machismo shooting guns, throwing things and doing the most insane workouts you will ever see. there's a bigger trend here. you see, liver king has quickly become one of the biggest fitness influencers. >> i a shoulder day for you all. >> in the social media sphere. for young men, more than ever

before, buff bodies and shredded six-packs exist within the entire universe of fit content online, but with that, some say comes an increased pressure to look a certain way. for some people, creating major body image and even steroid abuse issues. but first let's talk about who or what exactly is the liver king. certainly just a 45-year-old guy from texas. brian johnson. tell me about bryan johnson, who his he? >> i would say brian johnson is the corporate guy that didn't live the ancestral life, was eating the way that we are told to eat, putting on sunscreen, brushing my teeth, shaving my face, putting on deodorant, putting on cologne, you know, driving the fancy car, the whole nine yards. that was brian johnson. >> we are hitting the ground, so let's lose the shoes. i put mine on so we could take them off together. >> before all this brian and his wife barbara owned a dental

practice. she was the dentist while he owned business and property. >> she is a practicing dentist. i'm in devices. you do whatever you can to keep the business going. in the she's like hey, i'm done, i'm retiring. thank god. >> i said i need to be home with the kids so this has to change. they are being raised by other people than us. the best thing that could happen. >> the johnsons say they left behind that dental practice in their lives as run-of-the-mill yuppie parents and devoted themselves to living what they call an ancestral lifestyle. >> i believe so deeply in it for so many reasons. my kids were really sick, going to the hospital, they couldn't breathe, so i learned about this whole ancestral living thing, we introduced liver, bone soups, they got better. >> feel free to go primal, but you should also know the fda actually recommends cooking meat and eggs to kill off potentially harmful bacteria. before long they built up a

brand. they opened multiple companies that sell fitness demands mostly based on the lifestyle which they say are inspired by ancestral tenants. >> nine ancestral tenants are eat, sleep, move, shield, connect, cold. we've probably all been done -- done them all except for sleep today what we sell is a vision, which is so happen to sell nourishment. >> but that message, it needed teeth. a spokesperson to get them to the next level, and this is how the liver king was born. >> at what point did you start calling herself liver king? that's a pretty significant difference than brian johnson. >> it was 2015 and this is what happened. i started a business. i didn't want to do anything. your number one issue in business is obscurity. i said because i make my kids call me liver king, the name is liver king because liver is king. if there's one thing you can do to change your life if you can get liver in your life, you will feel the difference.

>> it wasn't until 2021 that he took his primitive road-show to the modern world. >> enough people came over and said you need to go on social media this for six months, if i don't have a million followers >> on the liver king. >> liver king here. >> i don't want to do that, i want to make it better. 21 ocs ! >> i want from it was a morning time, we should get -- morning, primus, it's prime ti time! >> did you get a million followers in six months? >> prior to six months. >> he's also amassed a legion of critics who rightly or wrongly

call it everything the food his family eats to the lifestyle they live and most of all question just how natural liver king's body really is. >> it's a form of disordered thinking and it is toxic. >> the liver king thing drives me nuts because that guys on steroids. >> all these ridiculous accusations. >> can we be honest, you definitely take p.e.d. >> they write in dms, they tell me what i'm taking. for the record, i've never taken steroids. >> in late 2022 after months of rumors, speculation, and his denials, a video titled "the liver king why" was dropped by youtube or with the name more plates, more dates. >> leaked emails, blood test results in a full steroid cycle breakdown, that's what we're going to be getting into in this video. >> it was a bombshell showing emails purportedly from the liver king, tying him to steroid use, claiming that he was spending more than $11,000 a

month on performance-enhancing drugs. including testosterone and growth hormone. >> he is on all the stuff. >> what was the physical sensation you felt when you saw this guy online reading your emails? >> couldn't be more visceral. my heart dropped. i was in shock. i couldn't believe it, you know? i thought about all the people that believed in me, that gave me the opportunity to spread this message, and i looked them in the eye and i lied to them. >> primal's, i am making this video to apologize. >> three days after that video dropped, liver king released his own, coming clean on the entire saga. >> and i'm here now to set the record straight. yes, i've done steroids, and yes, i am on steroids, monitored and managed by trained hormone clinician. >> i think what upset people so

much as less that you were doing steroids and growth hormones, it's that you were insisting up and down that you weren't doing it. >> right. >> and it seemed to contradict all the values that you promote on social media. >> the illusion of contradicting that by taking growth hormone and steroids, i was deceptive because i was taking performance-enhancing drugs, steroids and growth hormone and lead people to believe that it was only these nine ancestral tenants that got me here, right? for that, lying about that, that was wrong. one of the top regrets i have in my entire life. >> our thanks to matt. you can watch the entire episode on impact by "nightline." it is now streaming on hulu. up next, ship t.d. jakes, one-on-one with the man known as america's preacher. his strategy to change how we his strategy to change how we live.

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♪ ♪ >> "time" magazine called him america's best preacher. is a prolific best-selling author and he's here today to talk about his latest book, "disruptive thinking," a daring strategy to change how we live, lead, and love. joining me now, senior pastor of the potter's house in dallas, texas. welcome, bishop. >> thank you, real pleasure to be with you. >> it is always good to be with you. we've known each other for a long time, i was feel better after our conversations. i'm going to start with your new book. what can people expect from this

particular book? >> this book is written after the trauma of covid. i watched the disruption of a nation, the disruption of her generation, the disruption of a world and then personal disruption, emotionally, financially, organizationally and how do we handle those moments that are disruptive? either we recede into a safe place and hope it will all be over soon, or we come up with a disruptive way of thinking, disrupting the way we think requires that we don't go into today's battle with yesterday's wisdom. >> i've known you probably about 15 years, i've known of you for probably 30 years. one thing i appreciate you is there's a kindness to you, this immodesty to you. i gently kind of grandfather, favorite uncle. >> [laughs] >> and then there's t.d. jakes in the pulpit. i want folks to see that t.d. jakes for moment we will talk about that on the other side. >> okay. >> what god is getting ready to

do in your life is totally illogical, it makes no sense, it has -- >> now, there are some churches you go to this age of mega-churches, like a wine tasting. when you preach, it's pork chops, cabbage -- >> [laughs] >> here is this gentle teddy bear of a man, there is the lien. >> i think there's a lion and a lamb in all of us. but being a public or reader, you to have many gears like an 18-wheeler. having that versatility to be able to be nimble enough to go from a black church with call and response to a room that is totally solid and still be equally as comfortable in your own skin speaks to the range of the speaker, the more bandwidth that you have and the more you are in touch with yourself, the more versatile you can be. >> the last time we spoke on

camera was three years ago, jun. the pandemic, not too long prior, they just released the videotape of george floyd, there were demonstrations across the country. america was both hurt and angry. and here's part of that conversation i want to play for our viewers. >> i think we can build a better america. might not ever be a perfect america but i do believe we could build a better america in this particular moment in time. >> three years forward to now, our politics are still divided. you still see it that way? >> i do. i think things can, will, and must change. i would like to have seen more change, i will not deny that. but after george floyd's tragic murder, conversations broke out. people began to put some effort behind diversity, equity, and inclusion. those are optimistic things that i see moving the ball. as for the political frontier, we keep changing the chef, but

we don't understand that the oven is broke. it doesn't matter who you elect, if we don't get a better system in place we are going to always have this kind of problem. >> you get this criticism a lot so i ask you about it. you're doing too much, you are chairman and ceo of t.d. jakes group, your company and wells fargo recently unveiled a 10-year, $1 billion partnership. stay in your lane. you're just doing too much. you say what? >> they are right. i don't have a lane. i live without lane's and i tell people my mother didn't birther preacher, she had a person. i only dabble in the areas where i have great passion, great interest, and the potential to have great influence to be able to navigate that kind of a deal to change our communities and cost $1 billion that wasn't headed towards our coffers to go into our communities is a responsibility and just as much a calling as preaching a sunday morning message. >> you've done so much already,

what's next. >> i'm really excited about revitalizing, recreating, reinvesting in underserved communities. i'm also mentoring entrepreneurs because with the change of jobs and job requirements, entrepreneurship becomes vitally important. >> my favorite question to ask people of note, bishop t.d. jakes, what's the one thing you know in life are short for what you have no doubt? >> there will be setbacks. but there will be trying moments that try the human soul. all people have them. but we don't all handle them the same. some see them as obstacles, some see them as opportunities. when you see a problem as an opportunity to be innovative, you can turn tragedy into success. and you will get that it's up to you to see the opportunity. >> i sat down for an interview, was hoping for a sermon, and i

got both. >> [laughs] thank you, that's because you're so masterful at what you do. >> the ships new book is out now. we will be right back. thank you. >> my pleasure, thanks for having me. enters the room. phil: excuse me? hillary: that wasn't me. narrator: said hillary, who's only taken 347 steps today. hillary: i cycled here. narrator: speaking of cycles, mary's period is due to start in three days. mary: how do they know so much about us? narrator: your all sharing health data without realizing it. that's how i know about kevin's rash. who's next? wait... what's that in your hand? no, no, stop! oh you're no fun. [lock clicks shut] i have moderate to severe plaque psoriasis. thanks to skyrizi, i'm on my way with clearer skin. 3 out of 4 people achieved 90% clearer skin at 4 months. and skyrizi is just 4 doses a year after 2 starter doses. serious allergic reactions

and an increased risk of infections or a lower ability to fight them may occur. tell your doctor if you have an infection or symptoms, had a vaccine, or plan to. nothing on my skin means everything! ♪ nothing is everything ♪ ask your dermatologist about skyrizi. learn how abbvie could help you save.

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♪ ♪ >> finally tonight, on this memorial day, we leave you with a tribute honoring the heroes who made the ultimate sacrifice for our country. ♪ ♪ >> we do this as a means of

honoring those who paid the ultimate sacrifice in giving their lives for their country. go my son absolutely loved what he did. he lived for what he did. so that gives me some peace. ♪ ♪ >> this is about service to these veterans who sacrificed so much for our country. >> i think it's just great to give them some recognition. >> it's very somber. it allows us all to just pause. >> we also bear a heavy burden of responsibility to ensure that there are sacrifices and these will not have been in vain. >> my husband, unfortunately he was told by an ied on may 26th 2009 which changed my son in my life forever.

we had our memories, his son still remembers things that they did and we are for him. >> all the conflicts and all the wars, the pay respects our comrades were buried in all the cemeteries. >> we can never fully repay their sacrifice, we can never heal their families loss. but we can show our reverence our gratitude, our support.