{"id":415102,"date":"2026-04-24T11:30:25","date_gmt":"2026-04-24T11:30:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/415102\/"},"modified":"2026-04-24T11:30:25","modified_gmt":"2026-04-24T11:30:25","slug":"russell-brand-says-he-had-exploitative-sex-with-16-year-old-at-height-of-fame-but-denies-actions-were-illegal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/415102\/","title":{"rendered":"Russell Brand says he had \u2018exploitative\u2019 sex with 16-year-old at height of fame but denies actions were illegal"},"content":{"rendered":"

The comedian and actor turned podcaster (50) is on bail facing trial this autumn over allegations of rape and sexual assault made against him by six women.<\/p>\n

Brand, who denies all the charges from 1999 to 2009, spoke about his past actions in an appearance on the YouTube show of US journalist Megyn Kelly, calling himself \u201cselfish\u201d and an \u201cexploiter of women\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn Europe and the United Kingdom, where I\u2019m from, the age of consent is 16, and I did sleep with a 16-year-old when I was 30.\u201d he said. \u201cWhen I was 30, I was a very different person.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was a lot younger, and I was an immature 30-year-old.<\/p>\n

\u201cConsensual sex with a lot of people, when there is a strong power differential, as there is when you are a famous man who has the ability to attract women that I had at that time, I think involves exploitation. I think it is exploitative.<\/p>\n

\u201cI recognise that my sexual conduct in the past was selfish and I did not apply enough consideration, barely any I suppose, really, to how that sex was affecting other people.\u201d<\/p>\n

Brand, who hosted Big Brother spin-off shows, had his own BBC Radio 2 programme and starred in a string of Hollywood films, is facing three charges of rape, three allegations of sexual assault, and one charge of indecent assault.<\/p>\n

\"Russell<\/p>\n

Russell Brand is facing three charges of rape, three allegations of sexual assault, and one charge of indecent assault (PA)<\/p>\n

News in 90 Seconds – 23rd April 2026<\/p>\n

His trial at Southwark Crown Court is set to begin on October 12, when his six accusers will speak about the claims and he will in turn have the chance to give evidence.<\/p>\n

A court has previously heard how Brand is accused of raping a woman in a hotel room while she attended a Labour Party conference in Bournemouth, grabbing a TV worker\u2019s breasts and orally raping her after dragging her into a male toilet, and kissing and groping a radio worker after pushing her against a wall.<\/p>\n

On the YouTube appearance, Brand \u2013 who has now converted to Christianity \u2013 suggested as a younger man he was among the \u201cinnocuous party boy-style exploiters of women\u201d.<\/p>\n

\"Brand<\/p>\n

Brand is on bail from the court while he awaits his trial (PA)<\/p>\n

He said: \u201cIt\u2019s plainly something that exists within our industry, and one might say culture at large.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhile I was transgressing lines of being a person that was sleeping with people because I had availability to \u2013 not only, by the way, with waitresses and strippers and fans and people, but powerful women as well, powerful, professional women that had gravitas and status and power \u2013 I was only really thinking of myself,” he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI had consensual sex with lots and lots of women, and you can argue that\u2019s not appropriate, but the age of consent is an important thing and the ability to consent is an important thing.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat fame gave me, and what addiction fuelled, was opportunity for endless consent, which led me to be a hedonist and a fool and an exploiter of women. <\/p>\n

“That is wrong and something that needs to be redeemed and addressed and atoned for. What I\u2019m obviously not only querying, but violently or aggressively or assertively opposing, is the idea this is a judicial criminal matter where consent was overridden. <\/p>\n

“Actually what happened was consent was directed. That\u2019s what being famous and being charismatic affords you, is the ability to direct consent. <\/p>\n

“That doesn\u2019t mean it\u2019s right, it\u2019s actually not right, it\u2019s wrong. It\u2019s a sin, it\u2019s an expression of selfishness and forced idolatry.\u201d <\/p>\n

Brand now lives in the United States.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The comedian and actor turned podcaster (50) is on bail facing trial this autumn over allegations of rape…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":415103,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[93,61,60,109394],"class_list":["post-415102","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-entertainment","tag-entertainment","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-russell-brand"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/415102","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=415102"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/415102\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/415103"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=415102"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=415102"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=415102"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}