Popular 'looksmaxxing' influencer Clavicular has become the poster boy for the dangerous trend targeting young boys and men. Photo / Instagram
Controversial “looksmaxxer” Clavicular has shared an update about his suspected drug overdose which dramatically unfolded on livestream and ended with a stint in hospital.
“Just got home, that was brutal,” the influencer – real name Braden Eric Peters – captioned a selfie, which showed his bloody face, on Wednesday local time.
“All of the substances are just a cope trying to feel neurotypical while being in public, but obviously that isn’t a real solution.
“The worst part of tonight was my face descending from the life support mask.”
The 20-year-old American content creator – who is best known for the dangerous techniques he’s used to “maximise” his appearance – was taken to hospital on Tuesday night, according to TMZ, after his livestream came to an abrupt end.
In footage from the stream, Clavicular can be seen greeting fans at a Miami shopping centre, telling one woman: “I’m trying my best to lock in but I’m a little destroyed right now … “Holy sh*t dude, I’m trying my best but I’m f***ing destroyed right now … Holy f***.”
After repeated “holy f***’s” and “holy sh*t’s” and telling another fan, “I’m absolutely gone”, he said: “Let me go sit somewhere … where’s somewhere I can go sit down for a sec? Oh my god, f***ing hell.”
Clavicular and his group of friends are then taken upstairs to a restaurant, and seated at a booth.
“How f***ed are you?” Australian influencer Androgenic – who has caused headlines of his own in recent weeks – can be heard asking.
“I’m gone,” Clavicular replies.
Androgenic then asks an unresponsive Clavicular, “Do you want an Addy (Aderall)?” before the footage cuts out.
TMZ obtained the 911 dispatch audio from the incident, in which Clavicular’s friends call for an emergency service response to their location for a “20-year-old male overdose”.
Clavicular did not respond to TMZ’s request for comment.
The incident comes after Clavicular’s headline-making interview with Australia’s 60 Minutes.
Sunday night’s episode delved into the world of “looksmaxxing” – of which Clavicular is the most famous proponent – where boys as young as 10 are smashing their bones, ordering unapproved drugs to secret PO boxes and attempting at-home plastic surgery.
The trend, which first sparked mainstream attention in 2023, has sparked a flurry of warnings from experts, who say the dangerous substances and methods used could cause serious harm.
During a tense on-air moment with reporter Adam Hegarty, Clavicular walked out of the interview after being challenged on the looksmaxxing community’s link to a range of misogynistic subcultures, including incels, also known as involuntary celibates – men who blame women for their non-existent sex lives – and Andrew Tate.
“I’m not linked to that group in any way,” Clavicular said, visibly disgusted at the idea of being associated with incels.
“Looksmaxxing is self-improvement, right? So it’s about potentially ascending out of that category and so that would be one of the goals is to disassociate from being an incel and overcome that.”
Hegarty continued with his line of questioning, with the young man abruptly ending the interview when he mentioned Tate, a self-proclaimed “misogynist” influencer who is set to stand trial for alleged human trafficking in Romania.
“You’ve obviously shared company with Andrew Tate and other, dare I say, rather controversial figures, why do you spend time with people like that?” Hegarty asked.
“All right, have a nice day” Clavicular replied, before adding: “I see you want to make this political.”
After attempting to claim Hegarty – who isn’t married – had been “cheated” on by his wife, he stood up and walked over to his livestream setup.
Before the interview was derailed, Clavicular had discussed how he turned to bone smashing and drugs, be it injecting steroids or taking methamphetamine, to achieve his desired look.
Clavicular, whose parents are former bodybuilders, claims to have started taking steroids at 14 years old.
“There’s no reason for me to go to the gym and work out in any way other than the most efficient one, and that was with anabolic steroids. So it’s sort of like a cheat code,” he said.
These claims have been shot down by aesthetic surgeon Angie Taras, who described the practices as “shocking”.
“There’s just absolutely no scientific evidence behind most of the things that they are talking about,” she said.
Taras said bone smashing was also an unhelpful method in changing the shape of the face, as it leads to temporary swelling and bruising, not permanently changing the shape of the skull.
She also argued many of the before-and-after pictures used in looksmaxxing posts were likely down to puberty and secret aesthetic treatments.
“Well, puberty’s happened. So their faces changed anyway,” she said.
“Sometimes you … wonder if they’re getting other treatments as well that they’re not talking about. So it could be a combination of both those things.”
Clinical psychologist Zac Seidler said the looksmaxxing trend was “really concerning” and “nihilistic”.
He said the online movement was “telling young guys that life is hopeless” and they wouldn’t be able to succeed in their careers, get a romantic partner or make friends without looksmaxxing.
“It’s all about winning and competitiveness and, really, sadly, what it leads to is self-destruction.”
Seidler said the dangerous online trend provided an opportunity to unpack the psychology behind the young men taking part in looksmaxxing.
“We know that lots of them come from trauma backgrounds,” he told 60 Minutes.
“Like, what is driving a 14-year-old to start to inject steroids, use meth, smash themselves with a hammer?”
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