Russell Brand bragged about hooking up with Sir Rod Stewart's daughter at the GQ Man of the Year Awards in 2006, prompting a furious onstage confrontation from the rocker.
Brand, now a convicted rapist, was sentenced to 10 years and six months after being found guilty of raping one woman and sexually assaulting three others at Southwark Crown Court on Thursday. Jurors unanimously convicted him of offences against four women between 2004 and 2009.
A boast that sparked fury
While many of Brand's crude boasts about his conquests were often laughed off, his comments about Sir Rod's daughter, Kimberley Stewart, who was around 27 at the time, enraged the singer. Standing in front of the star-studded audience at the Royal Opera House on September 5, 2006, Brand dedicated his fashion award to Sir Rod, saying: "Here's to Rod Stewart who had a go at me earlier this year for too much womanising. But then again I did have a go on his daughter."
Soon after, Sir Rod was invited onstage to accept an outstanding musical achievement award and did not hold back. Addressing Brand directly, the Maggie May singer said: "You went with my daughter, did you? Russell, stand up."
The confrontation
Brand appeared sheepish and could be heard mumbling "I took her out for one evening" in response, to which Sir Rod replied, "Did you behave yourself?" Backtracking on his original comment, Brand stated, "I never touched that girl," prompting the crooner to remark: "F***ing right you didn't. You mustn't come up here and boast. I speak here as a father."
Speaking to Michael Parkinson that same year, Sir Rod explained that he had spoken to his daughter prior to the incident and she confirmed that nothing had gone on between them—they had just been pictured out at dinner together. "So when I got up on the stage I pinpointed him and I said, 'Get up. God's honest truth, did you shag my daughter?' And he said no," Sir Rod explained. "He was humbled, absolutely humbled. Because you don't do that, even in my heyday I wouldn't have done that."
Parkinson pointed out that Brand was "frightened," to which Sir Rod responded: "Yeah, he was, because I had a few of my mates in the crowd, didn't I?"
Later allegations and fallout
It would not be until 17 years later that a joint 2023 investigation by Channel 4 Dispatches, The Times, and The Sunday Times, in a documentary titled 'Russell Brand: In Plain Sight,' highlighted serious allegations against him, ranging from rape and sexual assault to emotionally abusive behaviour from five women.
Following the documentary's airing, Sharon Osbourne spoke out against his treatment of Sir Rod. Speaking on TalkTV in September 2023, she said: "The only thing I can say about Russell Brand, is the two things I don't like, was when he spoke about… one of them is a very good friend of ours, Kimberley Stewart, about what he had done to Kimberley Stewart in front of [Rod]." She added: "And then he did the same with Sir Bob Geldof… You just don't do that to people's families, when that father is in the room. He's done it twice now and that's the thing that sticks with me."
Prior to his confrontation with Sir Rod Stewart, Brand had been linked to Sir Bob Geldof's late daughter Peaches in the early noughties before she tragically died aged 25 from a heroin overdose in 2014. Appearing at the NME Hero of the Year Awards in 2006, Brand had introduced Sir Bob, now 75, to the stage as "Sir Bobby Gandalf." As he stepped up on stage, Geldof famously retorted: "Russell Brand, what a c***."
