The former comedian has addressed Southwark Crown Court from the witness box during his trial for rape and sexual assault charges spanning 10 years – allegations which he denies.
Russell Brand has told his trial that friends will not “touch me with a barge pole” after he was accused of rape and sexual assault.
Brand said the claims had “consumed” his whole life after he entered the witness box just after 10am on Wednesday and took the oath in a clear and deliberate voice. He told jurors he could not get anyone close to him to give evidence in his defence, after being publicly accused of offences against women three years ago.
Brand has pleaded not guilty to three counts of rape, three counts of sexual assault, and one allegation of indecent assault, relating to six women between 1999 and 2009. The comedian, actor and podcaster denied each of the six charges against him when asked if he had committed the alleged offences by his barrister Ian Winter KC.
Mr Winter asked Brand about the efftect of being accused of rape and sexual misconduct in reporting by the Sunday Times, The Times, and a Channel 4 Dispatches documentary which aired in September 2023. Brand replied: “It was devastating.”
Mr Winter asked: “Were you able to persuade a single person with relevant evidence to give to come to give evidence on your behalf?” Brand replied: “I have not.” The barrister continued: “Would they touch you with a barge pole?”, and Brand replied: “No.”
Taking to the witness box, Brand declined an offer from the judge to sit, and stood up straight with his hands behind his back while giving evidence. He continued to project loudly to the court, as he answered the first flurry of questions with a simple “yes” or “no”.
Brand had earlier denied each of the six charges against him when asked if he had committed the alleged offences by his barrister Ian Winter KC. Asked if he could remember the complainants in November 2023 to January 2024, he said: “No.” Questioned as to whether he is now “able to remember some of the events in respect of those six”, he said: “Yes.”
Mr Winter KC asked: “How much work and time have you spent trying to recollect these allegations?” Brand said: “My entire life has been consumed by these events, these allegations, these accusations. The impact of these allegations and accusations I have devoted myself to these matters.”
He also told the court that he had been banned from Great Ormond Street Hospital to be with his sick baby son after he had been publicly accused of rape. He told the court: “The reason given by Great Ormond Street Hospital when my son was receiving open heart surgery and subsequent treatment was due to the material published.”
He said he was told “they had to bar my attendance and presence.” Adding: “They were unclear about what particular legal reason there was, but that was the reason they gave to my wife Laura and I.”
Brand was asked if, by 2009, he was “really famous”, to which he replied that he was. Mr Winter then asked the defendant if he married “popular music singer” Katy Perry, with Brand responding: “Yes I did”, adding he met her “whenever the VMA awards” were.
Addressing his marriage to Ms Perry, Mr Winter asked Brand: “Did that bring about a sea of change in your life.” After replying that it did, Mr Winter said: “Just in two words, how did it change?” Brand replied loudly: “Staggering fame.”
The trial continues.
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