UPDATE 4/4/25 at 1:27 p.m. ET — Russell Brand has broken his silence after the U.K. government brought forth charges of rape and assault.
“When I was young and single, before I had my wife and family, I was a fool,” Brand said in a Friday, April 4, X video. “I was a fool before I lived in the light of the Lord. I was a drug addict, a sex addict and an imbicile, but what I never was … was a rapist. I’ve never engaged in nonconsensual activity. I pray that you can see that by looking in my eyes.”
Brand further noted that he is “incredibly grateful” to have the opportunity to defend the charges in court.
Original story continues below:
Russell Brand has been charged with rape, sexual assault and indecent assault in the U.K.
The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) confirmed on Friday, April 4, that Brand, 49, had been charged following claims from four different women between 1999 and 2005.
“We have today authorized the Metropolitan Police to charge Russell Brand with a number of sexual offenses,” a spokesperson for the CPS, Jaswant Narwal, said in a statement. “We carefully reviewed the evidence after a police investigation into allegations made following the broadcast of a Channel 4 documentary in September 2023. We have concluded that Russell Brand should be charged with offenses including rape, sexual assault and indecent assault.”
Brand is scheduled to appear at Westminster Magistrates’ Court on Friday, May 2, for his first hearing on the charges.
Russell Brand Denies Criminal Allegations Ahead of Rape, Assault Claims
“The Crown Prosecution Service reminds everyone that criminal proceedings are active, and the defendant has the right to a fair trial,” Narwal continued on Friday. “It is extremely important that there be no reporting, commentary or sharing of information online which could in any way prejudice these proceedings.”
“The Crown Prosecution Service reminds everyone that criminal proceedings are active, and the defendant has the right to a fair trial,” Narwal continued on Friday. “It is extremely important that there be no reporting, commentary or sharing of information online which could in any way prejudice these proceedings.”
The comedian was accused of sexual misconduct in a 2023 Channel 4 documentary, which he vehemently denied ahead of its release.
“I’ve received two extremely disturbing letters, or a letter and an email, one from a mainstream media TV company [and] one from a newspaper, listing a litany of extremely egregious and aggressive attacks,” he said in a September 2023 video posted on X. “As well as some pretty stupid stuff, like my community festival should be stopped, that I shouldn’t be able to attack mainstream media narratives on this channel, but amidst this litany of astonishing, rather baroque attacks, are some very serious allegations that I absolutely refute.”
Brand added, “As I’ve written about extensively in my books, I was very, very promiscuous. Now during that time of promiscuity, the relationships I had were absolutely, always consensual,” he said. “I was always transparent about that then — almost too transparent. And I’m being transparent about it now as well. And to see that transparency metastasized into something criminal that I absolutely deny makes me question [if] there is another agenda at play?”
The accusations against Brand were detailed in a Channel 4 Dispatches investigation.
Russell Brand Breaks Silence Amid Sexual Assault Claims: ‘Distressing Week’
“It’s worth mentioning that there are witnesses whose evidence directly contradicts the narratives that these two mainstream media outlets are trying to construct apparently, in what seems to me to be, a coordinated attack,” he claimed at the time of the documentary. “Now, I don’t want to get into this any further, because of the serious nature of the allegations, but I feel like I’m being attacked and plainly they are working very closely together.”
Brand was previously married to Katy Perry from 2010 to 2012. He married Laura Gallacher in 2017 and they share three kids.
If you have experienced sexual assault, call the National Sexual Assault Telephone Hotline at 1-800-656-4673 for confidential support.
