Editor’s note: This story contains details of alleged sexual offenses that some readers may find distressing.
Russell Brand allegedly raped a woman in her hotel room after he asked her to take photographs of him in his underwear, a court has heard.
On day four of Brand’s rape trial at London’s Southwark Crown Court, the jury was shown a video of a 2023 police interview with an alleged victim. The woman has a lifelong right to anonymity — Deadline refers to her as Complainant 1 (C1) — though she is being named in the court proceedings.
During the video interview, C1 alleged that she was raped by Brand, now 51, after meeting him on the fringes of the Labour Party Conference in Bournemouth in 1999. The woman was in her twenties at the time of the alleged incident.
The pair struck up a conversation after he was “playful” and tugged her ponytail. The woman recalled Brand being “polite, courteous, attentive,” and “child”-like during their interaction. She assumed he was gay and said she was not physically attracted to him.
She went on to watch a cabaret event in which Brand was performing, and after the show, she suggested he come back to her hotel room as she did not wish to go to a bar or club. “He was very gentlemanly… I didn’t think he was trying it on with me,” she said.
Once back at the hotel, the woman said she remembered going to the toilet and returning to find Brand in a pair of briefs, “prancing around being silly.” The woman alleged that Brand asked her to take photos of him, during which she claimed he became visibly aroused. “I could see he was getting hard,” she said during the police interview played in court.
C1 claimed Brand pushed her on the bed, pulled down her trousers and underwear, and proceeded to rape her. The woman repeatedly told police that she remembered his weight on her and that he attempted to put his fingers in her mouth. C1, who became visibly emotional during her 2023 interview, alleged that he was “pushing and pushing” until he ejaculated.
“I know I said, ‘No,'” she told police. “I drifted out of my head.” She continued: “I wanted him to finish quickly… and get off me. He was making a lot of noises of enjoyment and saying how pretty I was.”
After the alleged incident, C1 alleged that Brand told her that he gets “tested regularly” for sexually transmitted diseases. She recalled him saying he had to leave to “get back to his Mum” and that he wrote down his email address before exiting her hotel room. “He tried to kiss me as he went,” C1 said.
“He made me feel so dirty. [I felt like] it was my fault,” she told detectives. “I know I was crying; I felt stupid.” C1 said she did not report the alleged incident at the time, saying she worried that she would be told by authorities, “What did you expect?,” after inviting him back to the hotel room.
C1 came forward to the police after watching the 2023 Channel 4 documentary, Russell Brand: In Plain Sight. “I feel guilty coming forward now and not before,” she told detectives.
Brand, a comedian and MAGA-sphere influencer, faces three counts of rape, three charges of sexual assault and one of indecent assault based on allegations made by six women. Brand has pleaded not guilty to all charges.
During evidence on Wednesday, Riel Karmy-Jones, the prosecution barrister, described Brand as “charming,” “ruthless,” and “calculating” in his efforts to satisfy his hunger for sexual activity. Karmy-Jones has stressed that none of the women who came forward know each other.
Brand will set out his defense later in the trial. The court was told repeatedly that Brand declined to answer questions when interviewed by police. He instead relied on a prepared statement, in which he claimed that he did not recall meeting the women and did not remember their names. He said any sexual contact was consensual.
The trial continues.