Lennon wrote the song during the Beatles' stay in India in response to the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi's alleged sexual advance on actress Mia Farrow.

Harrison, Paul McCartney, and Cynthia Lennon later said that they thought the story, which had come from Alexis Mardas, also known as "Magic Alex", had been fabricated.

I just called him 'Sexy Sadie' instead of (sings) 'Maharishi what have you done, you made a fool...' I was just using the situation to write a song, rather calculatingly but also to express what I felt.

[18][16] Coinciding with the 50th anniversary of its release, Jacob Stolworthy of The Independent listed "Sexy Sadie" at number six in his ranking of the White Album's 30 tracks.

He wrote of the song: "To this day 'Sexy Sadie' drips with bittersweet disdain, its moody final minute—inspiring Radiohead's 'Karma Police' and 'Four Out of Five' by Arctic Monkeys—managing to spring hairs on end, however many times you've heard it.

[21] Mia Farrow meanwhile maintains she was sexually harassed by the Maharishi, saying, “[s]uddenly I became aware of two surprisingly male, hairy arms going around me.” [12] When Mojo released The White Album Recovered in 2008, part of a continuing series of CDs of Beatles albums covered track-by-track by modern artists, the track was covered by Rachel Unthank and the Winterset.