Indian American author and wellness figure Deepak Chopra has come under public scrutiny after his name surfaced in recently released documents tied to the Jeffrey Epstein investigation
Amid the renewed attention, a post circulating widely on X has added to the controversy. Artist and entrepreneur Sevda Rubens alleged that Chopra behaved inappropriately toward her at a meditation event in Europe when she was 16.
Rubens shared the allegation while referencing Chopra’s public response to the Epstein-linked emails, in which he denied any involvement in criminal or exploitative behavior. In her post, Rubens said that during the meditation event in Europe, Chopra gave her his phone number and suggested they meet late at night. She wrote that she refused the request and walked away feeling uneasy about the interaction.
“When I was 16 years old, I attended a meditation event hosted by Deepak Chopra in Europe. After the event, I lined up to ask him a question about my spiritual practice. He gave me his number and insisted to meet later that night. I was alarmed, and my intuition warned not to go, so I didn’t. That was also my wake up call. Male gurus are a construct. Smart girls are real,” Rubens wrote on X.
Rubens’ allegations have deepened the scrutiny around Chopra and reopened uneasy conversations about power, influence, and accountability in global wellness circles. Reaction across X, Instagram, and international wellness forums was swift and emotionally charged, with critics questioning the culture surrounding influential male gurus and their often young followers.
In follow-up posts, Rubens spoke about her vulnerability at the time. “At 16 I left my parental home, moved into a small attic and worked several jobs to maintain myself,” she wrote. “I had zero stability, no adult oversight.” She said living alone forced her into a constant state of alertness. “I remember how instinctively I marked certain men as danger,” she wrote. “Looking back, it’s remarkable I never fell into their hands.”
READ: ‘Cute girls are real’: Deepak Chopra responds after name appears in Epstein case (February 5, 2026)
Separately, emails exchanged between Chopra and convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein have also drawn renewed attention. In one message, Chopra wrote, “God is a construct.” “Cute girls are real.”
The brief exchange appeared among more than three million pages of documents released by the US Department of Justice in connection with Epstein’s criminal cases. The records show that Chopra remained in regular email contact with Epstein from at least 2016 through 2019.
Chopra has rejected any suggestion of wrongdoing after his name appeared in newly released records connected to the Jeffrey Epstein investigation. “I want to be clear,” the 79-year-old wrote on X on Thursday. “I was never involved in, nor did I participate in, any criminal or exploitative conduct. Any contact I had was limited and unrelated to abusive activity.”
He said he was “deeply saddened” by the suffering of Epstein’s victims and stressed that he condemns abuse and exploitation in all forms.