Russell Brand has taken to the witness stand during his rape and sexual assault trial at Southwark Crown Court. The 51-year-old comedian made a number of claims in front of the jury on Wednesday (October 28).
Brand is accused of three counts of rape, three counts of sexual assault, and one charge of attempted indecent assault. The allegations have been made by six women and span a 10-year period between 1999 and 2009. He has denied the charges against him.
He began giving evidence on Wednesday morning as his defence case got underway at the court in London. Here are some of the stand-out claims that he made in court.
Denies 'acting gay' to gain trust of women
The entertainer denied pretending to be gay to gain the trust of a woman who alleges he raped her after they met at the Labour Party Conference in Bournemouth in 1999. Brand was questioned about a passage in his 2007 autobiography, My Booky Wook, during cross-examination.
Prosecutor Riel Karmy-Jones KC showed the jury a photograph of Brand as a young boy, accompanied by the caption: "This is the exact moment when I decided to act gay to attract girls. It took 15 years to produce results."
Ms Karmy-Jones asked whether he had pretended to be gay to make women trust him. "No," Brand replied. Asked if it was possible he had portrayed himself as gay, he said: "I don’t think so."
The prosecutor later asked whether the caption meant he had pretended to be gay to attract women. Brand said: "It’s a joke. ‘Look at me, I’m a little boy in my garden and 15 years later… I was meeting women.’ It was a joke."
Defence witnesses won't 'touch him with a barge pole'
Brand told the trial that he wasn't able to persuade a single person to give evidence on his behalf - confirming that they would "not touch him with a barge pole".
He told the court he had suffered "devastating" consequences from being accused of rape and sexual misconduct by the Sunday Times, Times, and Channel 4 Dispatches in September 2023. His barrister, Ian Winter KC, asked: "What is the effect of that documentary on all of your friends and colleagues and people who had worked with you over 24 or 25 years?"
Brand replied: "It was devastating." Mr Winter asked: "Were you able to persuade a single person with relevant evidence to come to give evidence on your behalf?", to which Brand replied: "I have not."
The barrister asked: "Would they touch you with a barge pole?", to which Brand replied: "No."
Banned from Great Ormond Street Hospital
The former Big Brother presenter told the court he had been blocked from entering Great Ormond Street Hospital to be with his sick baby son after he had been publicly accused of rape. Brand and wife Laura Gallacher share three children together.
Brand said: "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 he was told, "they had to bar my attendance and presence.
"They were unclear about what particular legal reason there was, but that was the reason they gave to my wife Laura and I."
'Obsessed' with sex
Brand admitted that he was "obsessed" with sex in his younger years but denied being able to function without it. Prosecutor Ms Karmy-Jones asked him: "Do you accept that you were obsessed by sex in your younger years?"
"Yes," he replied. The prosecutor added: "Do you accept that you were desperate for it and sometimes couldn’t function without it?"
"No," Brand said. Ms Karmy-Jones asked: "Do you accept that on some occasions you would ask those you worked with if you could ‘go out and have sex now’?"
Brand said: "I don’t remember."
'Reckless, philandering, and idiocy'
Brand said he "dedicated" a lot of his life to "philandering". He told jurors: "I do recognise I have been a very determined and focused man and with regard to the latter, with women, of course which is the subject of my trial, I’ve been persuasive, seductive, begging and flirting, and dedicated a lot of my life to what seems now beyond reckless, philandering, and idiocy."
He said he was "comfortable" allowing his fame to "facilitate sexual access". Replying to questions from the prosecutor, he said the complainants are "different with different qualities".
He went on: "As I became more successful and famous I was very comfortable allowing that to facilitate sexual access which I agree with you was wrong."
Brand admits inconsistencies in evidence
Brand said it has been "deeply traumatic" since allegations have been made against him, adding that he has focused on recalling events "at the expense of my marriage, my children and my health".
Responding to questions from Karmy-Jones in relation to alleged inconsistencies in his prepared statement to police and what he has told the jury with regard to one of the complainants, Brand said: "Ms Karmy-Jones, I completely agree. Since these events occurred, there’s been escalating recollection. It's been a deeply traumatic episode of my life.
I’ve focused on at the expense of my marriage, my children and health. I ask your forgiveness, well, not your forgiveness. I recognise that this recollection includes small details that are inconsistent and I acknowledge that."
Brand's life 'consumed' by allegations
Mr Winter KC asked: "How much work and time have you spent trying to recollect these allegations?"
Brand replied: "My entire life has been consumed by these events, these allegations, these accusations. The impact of these allegation and accusation I have devoted myself to these matters."
The trial continues.
