Russell Brand was taken from court in a prison van on Thursday to be held on remand ahead of sentencing next week, completing a fall from grace that has taken him from Hollywood to facing prison time. The 51-year-old comedian was told to expect a lengthy jail term by the trial judge after a jury found him guilty of rape and sexual assault.
Brand has never been a stranger to controversy and in recent years pivoted to sharing conspiracy theories online. He even wrote in his own memoir that he followed a girl 200 miles and pestered her for sex when they were classmates at theatre school.
Early Controversies and the 9/11 Stunt
Brand's first major controversy came in 2001 when he turned up for work dressed as Osama Bin Laden the day after the 9/11 terror attacks. He was sacked as an MTV presenter.
In 2006, then aged 30, Brand had a sexual relationship with a 16-year-old schoolgirl who told Dispatches and the Times he had forced his penis down her throat because he wanted to see if it would make her mascara run. Earlier this year, Brand admitted to having an "exploitative" relationship with a 16-year-old, but said it was consensual.
Memoir and Radio Scandals
In 2007, he published his memoir, My Booky Wook, in which he reveals his manager sent him to a sex addiction clinic in Philadelphia in 2005 because his "carnal overindulgences" were causing "professional difficulties."
A year later, he and guest Jonathan Ross left voicemail messages for actor Andrew Sachs live on the radio, boasting how Brand had slept with his granddaughter. The messages, broadcast in full on BBC Radio 2, shocked the nation and drew criticism from then-PM Gordon Brown.
Brand regularly made sexual comments about a newsreader on his weekly radio show. He told her he planned to get underneath her desk and "unleash hell on her thighs." When told the newsreader was upset, he improvised a song about her reading the bulletins in her underwear.
In one episode, he made a joke about how he had just followed a woman into a toilet at a BBC studio and exposed his penis to her. Before another, he urinated into a bottle in front of guests and production staff then laughed about it on air. When he secured an interview with Jimmy Savile, he offered to send his female assistant to him naked as a token of his appreciation.
Hollywood Fame and Conviction
Despite these growing scandals, Brand relocated to Hollywood where he found fame as an actor. In February 2009, he performed a sold-out tour of the UK. His trial heard it was during this tour he raped a fan he met after a gig.
During the 2010s, Brand began delving into politics and current affairs and returned to the UK as a social commentator, hosting a YouTube series called "The Trews." But rumours swirled about his predatory past. His behaviour was such an open secret on the comedy circuit that young female comedians were urged to stay away from him, and he was branded a sex offender on stage by some comics.
As his mainstream fame began to wane, Brand began spouting conspiracy theories about the Covid pandemic and sharing misinformation about the War in Ukraine. In 2023 came his pivot to religion and right-wing politics as he became a 'born again Christian' just around the time a major newspaper investigation exposed allegations of sexual assault and rape.
His sudden conversion to Christianity saw him embraced by the American alt-right. He was invited to Donald Trump's second inauguration and forged friendships with the late conservative activist Charlie Kirk and former Fox News presenter Tucker Carlson. Earlier this year, he invited far-right activist Tommy Robinson onto his podcast and during his trial was accused of risking contempt of court by his internet broadcasts discussing the court case.
On November 5, 2026, Brand was convicted of one count of rape and three counts of sexual assault. A judge has told him to expect to serve significant jail time.
