Self-help guru Tony Robbins was accused of sexually assaulting a teenage girl at an elite California summer camp in 1985, according to a new report.
Robbins, then 25, was hired as a “star speaker” at SuperCamp in Oceanside, and, after his session, allegedly pinned the underage girl’s arms behind her back before kissing her and groping her breasts, BuzzFeed News reported.
The article is the sixth in a series by BuzzFeed on sexual misconduct allegations against Robbins. He’s also been accused of groping and harassing fans and staffers and berating rape victims. He has denied the allegations.
Shortly after Friday’s article was published, Robbins wrote in a Medium blog post that he was suing BuzzFeed for “following a premeditated and malicious campaign against me and my life’s work.”
The alleged victim in the report, who is not named and whose exact age wasn’t revealed, provided the website with a 2,400-word statement through her lawyer describing the “prolonged sexual assault.”
She said she’d finished a session with Robbins when he asked her to take a walk in the woods with him, during which he forced himself on her.
At the time, Robbins, now 59, was already making a living as a popular motivational speaker.
The article cites witnesses to the alleged assault, including one then-15-year-old, Steffanie Scott, who said she saw Robbins pinning the girl.
“He was going for her, his whole body was pressed up against her,” Scott said. “I wouldn’t want to be pinned. Not like that.”
Robbins’ attorneys denied the allegation, telling the website: “No sexual assault happened. Period.”