Tammy Peterson says her husband, author and podcast superstar Dr. Jordan Peterson, is suffering a “neurological injury,” which has taken him out of the spotlight.
The clinical psychologist and young man whisperer stepped away from recording his popular YouTube show and podcast recently, prompting questions from fans.
His family told The Post he is primarily suffering from a “neurological injury,” from previously taking psychiatric medications.
“Dr. Peterson is at home with family and helpful companions,” Tammy reported. “His mornings are brutally painful and discouraging for him. Later, much later in the day, he sometimes feels some relief.”
Peterson had been taking the benzodiazepine Klonopin when his wife, Tammy, was diagnosed with kidney cancer in 2019. Getting off the medication caused nightmarish withdrawal symptoms.
According to Tammy, Dr. Peterson developed tardive akathisia — a chronic movement disorder characterized by intense restlessness and a compulsive need to move, a known side effect of stopping dopamine antagonist medications.
“The damage done from psych medications from over six years ago takes patience, time and loving attention,” Tammy, 65, said.
“There are many testimonials written by people who have suffered from psych medication damage… The medical industry will have to face this evidence and take steps to protect the public from harm.”
According to Tammy, benzo medications “should only be used in lifesaving cases.”
In 2022, Dr. Peterson spoke with podcaster Joe Rogan about the process of trying to get off the medication. “I was in excruciating pain for two years, like pain on levels that I didn’t know was possible,” he said.
The Daily Mail reported Jonathan Pageau, a religious influencer and Peterson family friend, described Dr. Peterson as “overwhelmed with pain and discomfort” after only brief periods of conversation.
“Good days look like struggle and pain, but he’s still capable of taking walks, working on projects and having good conversations, just with difficulty and never for long,” he said. “Bad days are constant pain and akathisia. He struggles to focus on anything and lapses into discouragement and despair.”
Tammy, in speaking to The Post, also dispelled “a rumor” that Dr. Peterson experienced sepsis as a side effect of stem cell treatments performed by celebrity doctor Adeel Khan.
In reality, she said, he never received stem cell infusions from Khan. A localized stem cell injection in his elbow he got from the doctor in 2023 never caused any side effects, she said.
Instead, the sepsis Dr. Peterson experienced was acquired while in the ICU in Switzerland, where he was being treated for pneumonia.
“This is a rumor that detracts from the actual issue at hand, [which is] akathisia,” Tammy added. She spoke with The Post after a salacious article drummed up rumors about her husband’s health status.
She called the report her husband is hulled up in a “$50 million estate” “clickbait and untrue.” The Peterson family lives in Paradise Valley, Arizona, and are originally from Canada.
The Mail also suggested that Dr. Peterson’s “lifelong embrace of unconventional thinking… may be coming at a cost to his health” and took a hit at the couple’s daughter, Mikhaila Peterson, for her nontraditional medical views.
Mikhaila and her father had taken to a red-meat-only diet for purported health benefits. The pair also traveled to Russia in 2020 when Dr. Peterson began experiencing akathisia symptoms so he could undergo a “radical detox” via induced coma.
Tammy says her husband, now 63, is not planning to step back into the spotlight anytime soon, even as the group he co-founded, Alliance for Responsible Citizenship, plans their third annual conference in London next month.
“He is not talking about going back to work yet,” Tammy said, noting that he “feels as if he’s in another realm of pain.”
“He misses the opportunity to weigh in on societal issues,” she said.
