The founder of Bikram yoga is being sued in a sex scandal in which he is accused of sexual harassment and discrimination by a former student.
Bikram Choudhury is accused of making women brush his hair, give him massages, and even have sex with him, according to reports out this week.
Choudhury is also accused of telling Sarah Baughn that he hated his wife so she would have sexual relations with him, according to the New York Post.
Former yoga teacher at Bikram yoga, Baughn, 29, filed the suit at the Los Angeles Superior Court earlier this month. In the filing she claims Choudhury, 67, pursued her for years and ruined her career as a Bikram yoga teacher when she refused to have sex with him.
Bikram yoga involves practicing traditional routines but at very hot temperatures, and has in the past has had followers including David Beckham, Andy Murray, Madonna, George Clooney and Beyonce Knowles.
The accuser has said Choudhury told her: “My wife is such a b****, you have no idea. She is terrible to me. She is so mean. You have to save me.”
Choudhury is accused of first propositioning Buaghn in 2005 at a teacher training seminar. Baughn says he told her: “I know you from a past life. We have a connection. It is amazing. Should we make this a relationship?”
She claims that she refused his advances at that point and avoided Chowdhury from them on, but his alleged pursuit continued.
However, she claims that her rejections were met with him undermining her. She claims he rigged a yoga competition in 2008 so Baughn did not win – the winner was sharing Choudhury’s hotel room at the time, she alleges.
A profile on Choudhury in Details magazine, published two years ago, was written by someone who had just attended one of Choudhury’s classes: “Only the best, bravest, and most beautiful practice at the feet of the guru, who sits cross-legged on a giant inflatable leather throne against the back wall. He’s in a black Speedo, bare-chested, his hair tied in a topknot. His triceps stand out like pistons. Sometimes a woman will brush his hair or wash and massage his feet.
“There are the stories about him having sex with his students. When I ask him about this, he doesn’t deny it – he claims they blackmail him: ‘Only when they give me no choice! If they say to me, ‘Boss, you must fuck me or I will kill myself,’ then I do it! Think if I don’t! The karma!'”
Chowdhury is estimated to be worth around £4.6m.