British Influencer Jay Shetty Lied About His Monkhood In India, Plagiarised Instagram Post: Report (Photo Screengrab on X Jay Shetty @jayshetty · Jan 4 Avoid this mindset )

The 36-year-old Influencer Jay Shetty has been recently exposed by a media report accusing him of lying about his past. The British influencer on his official website claims that during his school years, he spent three years in a temple in India, immersing himself in their wisdom and teachings. However, a report by The Guardian stated that Mr Shetty’s claim that he spent three years in an Indian temple was “false.” The report also cast doubt on other information in his bio.

The influencer, one of the top 10 most-subscribed-to in the US last year, has authored several books including “Think Like A Monk: Train Your Mind for Peace and Purpose Every Day” 2023’s 8 Rules of Love and so on. He has 14 million followers on Instagram and 6 million across his two YouTube channels. Mr Shetty is also the founder of medication startup Calm and a life-coaching business, the Jay Shetty Certification School.

Interestingly, Mr Shetty reportedly attributes his qualification for being the world’s most prominent mental and spiritual wellness guru to the time he claimed to spend in an ashram in Mumbai.

Notably, The Guardian reports that the people close to him doubt if his claims of monkhood were just dramatic.  “After graduating, Shetty forgoes a life of material success to live as a monk himself. Three years later, he has another revelation: his purpose in life is not to live the humble life of a monk but to use his preternatural oratory skills to share wisdom with the world. Thus begins his transformation into a public self-help personality and his swift rise to fame. Shetty”s success is largely predicated on this riches-to-rags-to-riches backstory.” The report said, adding that the behavioural science degree that Mr Shetty claimed to have possessed was also false.

The report also pointed out the contradictions between the stated age of Mr. shetty and the date of the event of the monk who delivered the lecture, that transformed him according to his claims.

On the accusation of plagiarism, the report said that in 2019 Jay Shetty removed over 100 posts after Youtuber Nicole Arbour revealed the sources of his posts. Many of his contents were copies of existing social media posts, the report alleged.