A male model and Instagram influencer who allegedly was in a romantic relationship with conservative billionaire Peter Thiel, and who died in March in a suspected suicide, was devastated by a messy confrontation with Thiel’s husband at a New Year’s Eve party in the weeks leading up to his death, The Daily Mail reported Wednesday.
Model Jeff Thomas, according to a March report from The Intercept, languished for years in a highly glamorous but miserably “kept” situation allegedly dictated by Thiel. Miami police have been in touch with Thiel as part of the investigation into Thomas’s death, sources told The Intercept—the model was found at the bottom of a Miami apartment complex on March 8th.
The Mail’s sources said Thomas showed up at the the New Year’s party hosted by Thiel and Matt Danzeisen, Thiel’s husband of six years, at their Miami Beach compound, despite not being included on the guest list approved by Danzeisen. They added that the PayPal founder’s alleged lover never would have attended the bash had he known Danzeisen would be present.
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Danzeisen, the Mail says, was incensed to see Thomas and was overheard asking Thiel, “Why is HE here?” The incident deeply humiliated Thomas, sources told the Mail, and led to a decline in his mental health.
Thiel and Thomas met at Coachella in 2015 or 2016, but got more deeply involved at the height of the pandemic, The Intercept reported in late March. In audio recordings of Thomas the outlet claims were provided by Democratic activists, the model described a relationship that started out as mutually beneficial, but that eventually drained him.
Thomas was set up by Thiel in a $13 million Hollywood Hills mansion and was given a $300,000 car to drive, the model said.
“I did real estate in New York, and I was considering getting my license and doing investment… I knew I wasn’t going to be in it for the long run,” Thomas said. “It’s not like I was his boyfriend, really, I was just kind of his friend that was there for him when he needed, you know, whatever he needed.”
Eventually, things changed. “I don’t think it’s very satisfying, to be honest, to be kept,” the Intercept says Thomas said last October. “I saw the spark in me fade away, and it was toxic, and it was unhealthy, and I’ve had multiple talks with myself this year, about getting out of it, and I’ve actually discussed to him about it, like, I can’t do this anymore. You know, my mental health is at risk.”
The Daily Beast reached out to Thiel for comment.
