Vanessa Feltz has revealed she ended her friendship with comedian Russell Brand after he made lewd remarks about her underage daughter during a 2006 MTV interview. She said she was "horrified" and "disgusted" when he asked her live on air if he could have sex with her and her two teenage daughters.
Live On-Air Remarks
During the interview, which has since gone viral, Brand repeatedly asked Feltz if he could "have it off" with her daughters, the youngest of whom was 15 at the time. Midway through the conversation, Brand asked: "Can I have it off with either you or your daughters?"
Feltz replied, "No, you may not," but Brand continued, saying: "Come on, some of them are adults." Appearing visibly more offended, Feltz struck a more serious tone, telling him: "I've got two daughters, the answer is no." He then asked: "None of them?"
"Neither," Feltz replied, adding: "Will you stop it?" Brand pressed again, saying: "Hold on, you've two whole daughters and I can't even have one. Selfish." Feltz then replied: "When you have your own daughters, you'll know why I said that," to which Brand responded: "Well I won't sleep with them."
Decision to Cut Ties
An uncomfortable Feltz replied, "I'm not sure about that," in a frustrated jab towards the host, and Brand added: "I'm only mucking about, I'm not actually going to sleep with my own kids. It's only a joke. It's only words."
Speaking on her LBC radio show recently, Feltz recalled the interview and said that was the exact second she decided to cut ties with him completely. She said: "I wasn't able to laugh it off, I didn't want to laugh it off, I didn't think it was at all funny. I was horrified, I was absolutely disgusted in fact, even with a baying audience roaring in the bear pit, I could not pretend to think what he said was funny. It didn't feel like a joke and I stopped being friendly with him that night."
Empathy for Victims
Feltz also spoke of her empathy towards victims being fearful of coming forward, saying she was assaulted by another convicted sex pest, Rolf Harris, while they were in Channel Four's Big Breakfast bed. She said: "His wife was about two feet away, he was adored by the nation, loved by the royal family for all I knew he was the first woman he had ever treated that way. There was no chance on earth that I would have dreamt of launching a complaint or making any sort of fuss about it. I stayed completely silent, I told my then husband at the time and a couple of friends but other than that I never said a word about it."
She added: "I see why reporting a sexual assault or rape is traumatic and nerve wracking even terrifying. The thought of facing an inquisition from your attacker's legal team suggesting you are a liar fantastic, that you did consent, that you are a promiscuous, sex obsessed or have a history of debauchery would be more than enough to deter most women."
