Comedy legend and Great British Bake Off presenter Jo Brand has shared a harrowing account of a violent assault she endured while working as a psychiatric nurse, revealing it was a colleague – not a patient – who attacked her.
A Terrifying Night Shift Assault
The 68-year-old comic, famed for her work on Bake Off: An Extra Slice and Have I Got News For You, detailed the incident during a recent London gig. She recounted how, while working a night shift around 2am, a male nurse approached her with a chilling threat.
"He said, 'Looking at you it's like looking in a butcher's window and seeing a piece of meat I can afford,'" Brand revealed. The man then physically attacked her, pushing her onto a chair. It was two inpatients who heard her cries for help and came to her rescue.
Brand emphasised the importance of the story, noting people would assume the perpetrator was a patient, not a staff member. The experience profoundly shaped her understanding of mental health and vulnerability.
On Body Image and "Not Giving a S**t"
In a wide-ranging interview, the London-born mother-of-two also spoke candidly about societal attitudes towards weight. She confirmed she has no plans to use weight-loss drugs despite their popularity.
"I think weight-loss drugs are great, but I wouldn't do it," she stated, citing concerns about side effects and the temporary nature of the results. She criticised the prejudice faced by larger people, referencing a study that found women who lose weight are more likely to get better jobs.
"If you're fat, people think you don't care about yourself, that you're lazy. They put all those things on you," Brand said. Her solution? "You have to work for yourself and not give a s**t."
Pioneering Female Comic and Family Life
Brand, who began her stand-up career in the 1980s under the stage name 'The Sea Monster', reflected on being one of the few women in a male-dominated circuit. "The men have had it too good for too long," she remarked, but celebrated the growing number of talented female comedians today.
She has been married to fellow psychiatric nurse Bernie Bourke for nearly three decades, after meeting at a comedy gig when she was 38. She had her two daughters, now aged 24 and 22, in her forties. "Despite the fact that I was overweight and smoked about 600 fags a day, it all went fine," she joked.
Her daughters keep her grounded, notably informing her that her Instagram following was once smaller than that of actor Paul Mescal's neck chain. While she does less stand-up now, finding it harder to stay in touch with prevailing sentiments, she remains a beloved fixture on British television, having presented An Extra Slice since 2014.
