Brand, who became a household name as a presenter on MTV, Channel 4 and the BBC, told the court his entire life has been “consumed by these events, these allegations, these accusations”.
The women came forward after a 2023 documentary making separate allegations against Brand, which he described as “devastating”.
He told the court that due to the documentary, he had not persuaded anyone to give evidence on his behalf.
Brand, who was accompanied to court on Wednesday by his wife, agreed that at the time of the alleged offences he was “extremely promiscuous” and often had sex in toilets with people he had just met.
“Certainly as I became more and more successful and famous I was very comfortable allowing that to facilitate sexual access, which is, I would agree with you, wrong,” he told the prosecutor, Riel Karmy-Jones.
He said by 2004 he was “moderately well known” but by 2009 he was “very famous”.
Late that year, he began dating pop star Katy Perry, to whom he was briefly married, resulting in “staggering fame”, he said.
He made a foray into Hollywood, starring in several hit films.
Now remarried with children and living in Florida, he has gained a new following as a social media influencer with millions of subscribers.
At times, Brand paused for a long time before answering questions and spoke quietly, sometimes using long, flowery phrases.
While he earlier told police he did not remember any of the women, he said on Wednesday he had “escalating recollection” and recalled some details.
‘Disgusting behaviour’
He recalled meeting the first complainant, who accused him of raping her in 1999 after a cabaret show in the southern city of Bournemouth during the Labour Party Conference.
He said he found the woman attractive and “hoped and thought there was at least a possibility of sex”.
He insisted she consented to sex.
“Consent is fundamental, essential, necessary and indeed in many ways more important than sex itself,” he said.
He said he had used a condom, because “that was the way people had sex in 1999”.
He denied grabbing the breast of another woman in a bar in 2004, saying this was “obviously disgusting behaviour”.
That woman accused him of then orally raping her in a toilet.
Brand said they did go into a cubicle, where “it’s possible I would have taken my penis out of my trousers” but there was “no contact between her mouth and my penis”.
Brand said he remembered having anal sex with a 21-year-old woman who claimed he raped her in 2009, but said this was consensual.
He denied asking her to clear up a “mess” afterwards or knowing she was in pain, while saying: “it would be difficult to deny that anal sex involves blood”.
He denied remembering three other women, one of whom accused him of fondling her at work, another who said he put his head in her groin after demanding a massage and one who said he tried to drag her into a toilet at MTV’s offices.
The jury is expected to retire to consider its verdict next week, the judge said.
– AFP