Russell Brand once joked about escaping prison in his autobiography, years before he was found guilty of rape and sexual assault. The admission dates back nearly two decades before the conviction that followed a four-week trial.
Prison comments in autobiography
In his 2007 autobiography My Booky Wook, Brand wrote about his time in a sexual addiction treatment centre in Philadelphia in 2005. In a segment shared with The Guardian, he described his struggles with sexual addiction during that period.
Brand wrote: "I haven't always treated women well - more than one relationship has collapsed because of my infidelity - but to this day I feel a fierce warmth for women who have the same disregard for the social conventions of sexual protocol as I do."
He continued: "I love it when I meet a woman and her sexuality is dancing across her face, so it's apparent that all we need to do is nod and find a cupboard."
Treatment centre details
Brand also wrote about his manager, John Noel, who had previously forced him into drug rehabilitation. He described Noel as "a big, kind, lovely, vicious b*****d, like a Darth Vader from Manchester running a school for disadvantaged children" and said Noel "thought a little stretch in winky-nick would do me the power of good, and used threats, bullying, love and blackmail to make me go."
He explained his decision to agree to the treatment: "I eventually agreed for the same reason that I had given up drink and drugs - because my ambition is the most powerful force within me."
Brand also noted that while some celebrities have "yes men" around them, he had "f***-off" men. He wrote that Noel decided not to send him to a celebrity treatment centre like the Meadows Clinic in Arizona, but to a facility where not all places were private and some people were there on judicial programmes.
Conviction and sentencing
Brand referred to these programmes as "jail-swerves," explaining: "when you're a drug addict and you're offered a choice of prison or rehab." He added: "The same option exists for the terminally saucy - get treatment or go to prison; in prison there'll be much more sex but it could err on the side of coercive."
The comedian was found guilty on one count of rape and three counts of sexual assault at Southwark Crown Court. He is set to learn his sentence at the same court on November 9.
