Russell Brand denies all charges as he takes the stand at his rape and sex assault trial
LONDON (AP) — Russell Brand acknowledged in a London court on Wednesday that he had been obsessed with sex as a younger man, but denied multiple charges of rape and sexual assault, saying the claims have had a “devastating” impact on his life.
The British actor-comedian entered Southwark Crown Court alongside his wife, Laura Gallacher, to testify in his own defense, telling reporters that “today is the day for truth and justice.”
Brand, 51, stood in the witness box and took the oath, then gave his full name: Russell Edward Brand. He answered “no” to each charge as his lawyer, Ian Winter, asked whether he was guilty of three counts of rape, three counts of sexual assault and one count of attempted indecent assault.
Brand denied forcing any of the six alleged victims to do anything against their will.
“Consent is fundamental, essential, necessary, and indeed in many ways more important than sex itself,” Brand said.
Brand said the allegations had had a “devastating” impact, with friends and colleagues abandoning him. He said no one with relevant evidence had been willing to testify in court on his behalf.
“My entire life has been consumed by these events, these allegations, these accusations,” he said, adding later that dealing with the “traumatic” allegations had come “at the expense of my marriage, my children and health.”
Brand said he even was barred from staying with his baby son in hospital after anonymous allegations of sexual misconduct were made against him in a newspaper and a TV documentary in 2023.
“The reason given by Great Ormond Street Hospital when my son was receiving open heart surgery and subsequent treatment was due to the material published,” he said.
Over the past two weeks of the trial, prosecutors set out their case and the jury heard from six women who accuse Brand of sexual misconduct between 1999 and 2009.
Prosecutor Riel Karmy-Jones told jurors that Brand was “ruthless, he was calculating, he was manipulative. And, the prosecution say, he was a sexual predator.”
Known for risqué stand-up routines and battles with drugs and alcohol, Brand rose to prominence in the early 2000s, hosting television programs and his own BBC radio show. He appeared in Hollywood films including “Forgetting Sarah Marshall” and “Get Him to the Greek” and was briefly married to pop star Katy Perry.
In recent years he has moved away from mainstream media, relocated to Florida and built a large online following with videos mixing wellness, conspiracy theories and discussions of his religious devotion.
The allegations cover a decade when Brand went from rising stand-up comedian to major celebrity in the U.K.
The first victim alleges that Brand raped her in a hotel room during the Labour Party’s annual conference in the seaside town of Bournemouth in 1999. Another woman alleges that in 2001 Brand tried to drag her into the men’s bathroom at the London office of music channel MTV, where she worked.
A third woman alleges that Brand orally raped her in 2004 in the toilet of a London bar, and a fourth says Brand kissed and groped her at a London radio station in 2004 or 2005.
Another complainant says Brand anally raped her at his home after she met him at one of his shows in 2009, while the sixth says the comedian demanded a massage and pressed his face into her groin during the recording of an advertisement in 2009.
Prosecutors say the women don't know one another and separately went to police after the TV documentary was broadcast in 2023. The Associated Press doesn’t name victims of alleged sexual violence, and British law protects their identities from the media for life.
Under cross-examination by Karmy-Jones, Brand acknowledged he had dedicated a lot of his earlier life to “beyond reckless philandering."
“As I became more successful and famous I was very comfortable allowing that to facilitate sexual access, which I agree with you was wrong,” he said.
He said “yes” when asked if he had been obsessed with sex when he was younger, but “no” when the prosecutor asked: "Do you accept that you were desperate for it and sometimes couldn’t function without it?”
As he completed a day on the stand, Brand was asked again whether he had committed the crimes he is accused of.
“Not guilty is my plea in every single case," he said.
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