Russell Brand Was Accused Of Rape. Hours Later, He Was Being Applauded.
This article includes mentions of sexual assault, and may be distressing for some readers. Helplines can be found at the close.
Russell Brand’s name is everywhere right now, thanks to a documentary dropped by Dispatches called In Plain Sight, which airs multiple allegations of sexual assault, manipulation, grooming and rape against Russell.
As the documentary gains traction and plenty of articles are published analysing Russell’s public behaviour, you would think that the comedian would be keen to stay out of the spotlight – at least for the moment. Instead, Russell is in the thick of a comedy tour, and each night he’s been stepping out on stage to perform for thousands.
This week, just hours after the first accusations were made public, Russell walked on stage to a crowd of 2000 fans at his Bipolarisation show in London. It was there that he addressed the situation at hand, saying: “There are obviously some things that I absolutely cannot talk about and I appreciate that you will understand.”
That show received a standing ovation lasting several minutes.
As the documentary Russell Brand In Plain Sight hasn’t found a streaming platform in Australia yet, we’ve recounted the stories shared by the accusers in the documentary here for you.
Please note: This next section features graphic descriptions of sexual assault allegations.
Russell Brand Allegations: Nadia’s story.
Per the documentary, Nadia met Rusell at a taping of his 2012 TV show, Brand X, where the pair exchanged numbers at the show’s afterparty. Nadia recalls that two consensually had sex one time, but during another encounter, she alleges that things took a dark turn.
“It wasn’t fun when I couldn’t move. I knew what he wanted from me then.”
“He has that glazed look in his eye again. Holding me against the wall. Pushing himself inside me. I couldn’t move. After he came, he let go of me. He asked me if I was okay, and I said ‘no’.”
Russell followed up their alleged encounter with a text, reading: “I’m sorry. That was crazy and selfish. I hope you can forgive me, I know that you’re a lovely person.” Journalists who worked on this documentary corroborated through their reporting that this message was sent from Russell’s phone number.
The same day of the incident, Nadia went to a rape treatment centre to report what had happened. She underwent tests and was given antibiotics and emergency contraception. She gave a full report of the incident but decided not to go to the police.
“I was just too scared. I didn’t want to put my family through that, let alone me. Especially with him being famous,” Nadia says.
Russell Brand Allegations: Alice’s story.
“I had a friend working in the building that Russell’s show was filmed in. He saw me and asked me what my business was. I had just been to TopShop, and took the shopping bags from my hand, pulled out a dress I had just bought and said, ‘Okay, you’re going to wear this on a date with me’.”
Alice was 16 at the time, she shares in the documentary.
She speaks about getting ready for the ‘date’. She pulled on the red dress he had picked out, blow-dried her hair and put on makeup.
“I didn’t look like a woman by any means. I was a child, who had got dressed up for dinner.”
A shot from the Russell Brand Dispatches documentary. Image credit: Channel 4
Following the date, Alice says Russell was intense and overwhelming with his communication. “I woke up to texts from him saying he had dreamed of us getting married, and how happy it had made him.”
They met up again, this time at his place. Things allegedly escalated quickly, and he asked her how many people she had had sex with. “No one. I’ve never had sex with anyone,” she said.
“He got an erection straight away,” Alice reports. “He then picked me up saying, ‘My baby! My baby! You’re like my little dolly!’ while cradling me in his arms like a child and stroking my hair.”
Alice acknowledges now that the dynamic she was allegedly in with Russell was one of a grooming nature. He isolated her from her parents and trained her in scripts of what to say to her father. She recalls one time when he ran her a bath and demanded that she remain in it while he was gone from the house. She was in the bath for hours on end.
A shot from the Russell Brand Dispatches documentary. Image credit: Channel 4
Alice speaks of two occasions where she alleges Russell was sexually abusive. One involved him forcing his penis inside her mouth, making her cry with his actions. Russell apparently said after the act, “I just wanted to see your mascara run anyway”. Another occasion Alice recalls was this:
“He laid on top of me and held my mouth open so he was drooling into my mouth. I was gagging and trying to fight him off me, but he’s lying on top of me so I can’t – my limbs are trapped underneath him. He then held my mouth shut and made me swallow it. I was just gagging and crying.”
“I remember at that point just everything was very dark. I didn’t know why he even wanted me there because doing that stuff didn’t seem to make him happy. He just seemed angry all the time – and angry with me, and I didn’t know what I had done.”
It’s clear to hear in the documentary that Alice really grapples with the age she was when this was happening – particularly now she’s looking back at her alleged experiences.
After one of the times they had sex, one of his friends came over and then drove her to the train station. She recalls really feeling like a child when this was happening – particularly when Russell reached his hand around the back of his seat to hold her hand. Just like Alice’s mum used to do.
She tells the documentary filmmakers that she’s sure now that what happened to her was not okay.
“It should be illegal for a 16-year-old to have a relationship with a man in their 30s. I always felt like he had the upper hand. In bed, I just followed his lead.”
Russell Brand Allegations: The Big Brother crew members’ story.
A number of women who feature in the documentary worked on Big Brother at the time when Russell Brand was hosting the live show spin-off, Big Brother Efourum, which started airing in 2004.
They speak of being tasked with recruiting the audience for live taping, and being asked by Russell to give specific girls aged between 18 and 22 notes with Russell’s number and hotel room so that they could “visit” him.
“We were acting like pimps for Russell Brand’s needs … It felt like we were taking lambs to slaughter … And then we would get calls from them the next day, in tears,” the women claim. “It was really horrible to hear those women so distressed and upset.”
They claim they reported “uncomfortable” behaviour to Endemol Shine – the production company that produced Big Brother. The crew members were unsure if their complaints ever made it to Russell Brand, or higher up within the company. The production companies and networks involved with these TV shows provided full statements to the documentary condemning any behaviour that made staff uncomfortable.
Russell was later hired for four more seasons of the Big Brother spin-off show, which was renamed Big Brother’s Big Mouth. It catapulted him to a new level of fame.
Russell Brand Allegations: Phoebe’s Story.
Phoebe tells of once consensually sleeping with Russell Brand after meeting him at Alcoholics Anonymous, and not long after she was offered a job working on Russell’s team. It was here that she claims she witnessed a revolving door of women that Russell would sleep with on sets, in bathrooms, while working – it was, according to her, non-stop.
But then, when she was working late at his house, she recalls other team members left without her knowledge, leaving her alone with him. It was here where she alleges a non-consensual incident occurred.
“He was naked and he started chasing me. I realised then that it wasn’t a joke, he was being serious. I tried to leave but the door was locked – which I hadn’t seen him do. He grabbed me and got me on the bed. He held me down. He was aggressively trying to fuck me. I saw something come over his eyes – they had no more colour. They had gone black. Like, another person had taken over his body. I was screaming, yelling, ‘No! Stop! What are you doing? You’re my friend. I love you. Please don’t do this. I don’t want to do this.’ I was fighting so hard and screaming so much. Then something snapped for him and he got up and was super angry shouting, ‘fuck you’.”
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Since the airing of the documentary, amid his ongoing tour, Russell Brand has released a statement denying all wrongdoing. You can see his video statement in full here, but below is a snippet of the sentiment:
“Amidst this litany of astonishing, rather baroque attacks are some very serious allegations that I refute. These allegations pertain to the time when I was working in the mainstream when I was in the newspapers all the time when I was in the movies, and, as I have 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. I was always transparent about that then, almost too transparent, and I am being transparent about it now as well.”
London’s Metropolitan Police said this week that they were aware of news reports about a series of sexual assault allegations but had not directly received any reports relating to the allegations.
“If anyone believes they have been the victim of a sexual assault, no matter how long ago it happened, we would encourage them to contact police,” Metropolitan Police communications officer Callum Jones said, adding that the department was in touch with the Sunday Times and Channel 4 who collaborated on the Dispatches documentary.
If this has raised any issues for you, or if you just feel like you need to speak to someone, please call 1800 RESPECT (1800 737 732) – the national sexual assault, domestic and family violence counselling service. 13Yarn is also available for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in need of support.
Image credit: Getty + Punkee