Jemima Goldsmith, the former girlfriend of Russell Brand, has revealed she once called the police to have him removed from her house during a “violent incident.” The 52-year-old TV producer shared her experience on X on Monday night, saying she had personal experience of the comedian’s “violence, coercive control and abuse.”
Her post came hours after Brand was jailed for raping one of his fans and sexually assaulting three TV and radio workers. Goldsmith said she was “in awe of the courageous women who came forward at Brand’s trial” and that she had assisted the journalists who exposed him.
Goldsmith's Account of Abuse
In her post, Goldsmith wrote: “I am and have always been strongly and unequivocally on the side of all of Brand’s victims. I am in awe of the courageous women who came forward at Brand’s trial, told their stories, testified and ensured justice was done.
“I have had my own personal experience of his violence, coercive control and abuse. I had to call the police to have him removed from my house in 2014 during a violent incident.”
Goldsmith said she chose not to press charges or go public at the time because she was worried about the impact of press attention on her children. She added: “I have neither seen nor spoken to Brand since that period in 2014. Whilst my pain in relation to this, pales in comparison to what the women have testified in court have suffered, this was a difficult period in my life which has had a lasting impact.”
Assistance to Journalists and Trial Outcome
Goldsmith said she assisted journalists Ros Urwin, Louisa Compton and Dorothy Byrne over several years, and that she had undertaken to testify in court about Brand’s abusiveness if the newspaper that published the victims’ accounts were ever sued. She and Brand reportedly dated for a year in 2014.
Brand was sentenced after being found guilty of rape and sexual assault. Judge Mr Justice Bennathan branded him a “sexual predator” at Southwark Crown Court.
A four-week trial heard how Brand preyed on women he encountered on his way to becoming one of Britain’s best-known comedians, a lauded TV and radio host, and a Hollywood actor briefly married to singer Katy Perry. He claimed to have only ever had consensual sex during a “promiscuous” life, which he insisted had been packed with “idiocy” but never illegal.
His victims described a famous and powerful man who kissed and groped women within seconds of meeting them, pursued his sexual ambitions relentlessly, and laughed at and gaslit women after the attacks. Friends and former colleagues also gave evidence of his ambition to sleep with 5,000 women, an “insane” sexual appetite, and his bad behaviour towards women being “normalised” as he became increasingly famous.
