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WARNING: THIS ARTICLE CONTAINS GRAPHIC CONTENT.
A woman who accused Russell Brand of anally raping her was allegedly left in so much pain after the attack that she “couldn’t sit down,” a friend testified in court this week.
According to the BBC, the witness — who testified remotely — claimed she accompanied the alleged victim to the Hammersmith Apollo theatre in London back in 2009, where they were invited to the comedian’s dressing room after his show.
The witness said her friend later told her that Brand had sent a car to bring her to his London home, where an initially consensual sexual encounter allegedly turned into rape.
The woman was “just crying” and “really upset” when she recounted the alleged incident to her friend shortly afterward, the witness testified.
Brand “was quite aggressive,” the witness recalled her friend saying, adding that he “forcibly put it in my [butt]” and that “it really, really hurt.”
The witness said she asked her friend whether she had told Brand “no,” to which the alleged victim replied, “lots of times.”
“She told me that she was in a lot of pain” and that “she couldn’t sit down,” the witness testified, per the BBC.
A second friend, who testified in person, also claimed the woman told her she had repeatedly asked Brand to stop during the alleged encounter.
The witness further alleged that Brand told the woman she had “been dirty” and needed to “clean up her mess.”
Brand was “quite cold and keen to get her gone” afterward, the alleged victim reportedly told her friend.
The second witness said she encouraged the woman to seek medical attention because she had suffered anal tears and was experiencing significant discomfort, according to BBC.
She also advised her friend to speak with her parents and report the alleged attack to police.
However, the alleged victim “felt like it wasn’t worth it” and was struggling to process what had happened, according to the testimony.
The woman “didn’t think she would be believed,” the witness claimed, so she “kind of put it behind her.”
The woman’s former boyfriend also testified that she became “very upset” whenever she discussed her alleged encounter with Brand, which she described as rape.
During cross-examination, Brand’s attorney, Ian Winter KC, questioned the man about a previous statement in which he said the woman had “come round” to having anal sex.
The witness acknowledged making the statement but clarified that the woman had “surrendered to the idea.”
“If I was being attacked, you either fight back or surrendered, it doesn’t negate the attack,” he testified.
The accuser’s mother also provided a statement to the court, saying her daughter was “very worried about HIV” following the alleged attack.
She added that her daughter “had always admired” Brand.
The woman’s father also recalled his daughter telling him she had repeatedly asked Brand to stop during the alleged encounter.
“I said ‘you have been raped, that’s rape,'” he recalled.
Reps for Brand did not immediately respond to Page Six’s requests for comment on Thursday.
The “Forgetting Sarah Marshall” actor is facing seven charges — three counts of rape, three counts of sexual assault and one count of indecent assault — stemming from alleged incidents involving six women between 1999 and 2009.
Brand, who was briefly married to singer Katy Perry from 2010 to 2011, has pleaded not guilty to all charges.
After authorities announced charges against him in 2025, Brand took to Instagram to vehemently deny the allegations.
“I’ve always told you guys that when I was young and single … I was a fool,” he said in a video at the time.
“Man, I was a fool before I lived in the light of the Lord. I was a drug addict, sex addict and an imbecile. What I never was was a rapist.”
He insisted, “I’ve never engaged in nonconsensual activity,” adding, “I pray that you can see that by looking in my eyes.”
Prior to that, amid a media investigation into the matter in September 2023, Brand issued a social media statement strongly denying the “very serious allegations that I absolutely refute.”
Though he admitted in the video message to being “very, very promiscuous,” he stated that his relations “were absolutely always consensual.”