How the Times revealed claims against Russell Brand - The Saturday Story

SPEAKER_1 (0:04)

Hello, this is Luke. In 2023, a joint investigation by The Times, The Sunday Times and Channel 4 Dispatches revealed accusations by four women against Russell Brand, accusations he still denies.

And shortly after that, police began investigating him on charges relating to other women. They recently came to trial, as you may have heard. And out of that, Russell Brand was found guilty of one count of rape and three counts of sexual assault. He was found not guilty of two counts of rape and one of attempted indecent assault. If you want to hear full coverage of what happened in that trial, why not listen to The Trial of Russell Brand podcast, which we've been doing for the past three weeks or so. We will have more coverage next week as the sentencing gets underway. We'll put a link to that in the notes of this podcast. But in the meantime, we thought you might want to hear that original 2023 investigation with Rosamund Urwin and Charlotte Wace.

Manveen Rana (1:10)

A word of warning. This episode contains detailed allegations of rape and sexual assault.

Russell Brand (1:19)

You're listening to BBC Radio 2

It's The Russell Brand Show. And here's your host, I am.

Manveen Rana (1:28)

Russell Brand burst onto the scene in the early noughties as a presenter, comedian, actor and wild haired Lothario who was suddenly everywhere on TV and radio with his own brand of comedy that often pushed the limits.

Russell Brand (1:45)

It's my humble view that there ain't a single sexual act that ain't enhanced by spitting. There's literally no joke there, that is just a sex tip.

Manveen Rana (2:02)

He's been mired in controversy, not least in 2008 when prank phone calls led to his sacking from BBC Radio.

SPEAKER_4 (2:13)

Inappropriate and unacceptable, now Gordon Brown joins the chorus of his approval against Russell Brand and Jonathan Ross.

Manveen Rana (2:23)

These days, he's into well-being and speaking to his six million fans on YouTube, where his videos have been viewed over a billion times. But now we can reveal a much darker side to Russell Brand.

SPEAKER_5 (2:39)

I was sat up in the bed against the headboard and he forced his penis down my throat and I couldn't breathe, it was just choking me and I couldn't breathe.

SPEAKER_6 (2:52)

When I went in for one of my first therapy sessions, I couldn't say the word rape. I had to keep saying sexually assaulted, but by the end of it, I was like, oh my god, he raped me.

Manveen Rana (3:16)

Four women have alleged Russell Brand sexually assaulted them between 2006 and 2013 Others have made a range of accusations about Brand's controlling, abusive and predatory behaviour.

You're listening to Stories of Our Times from The Times and The Sunday Times. I'm Manveen Rana. Today, Russell Brand accused of rape.

Over the past three years, an exclusive investigation by The Times, The Sunday Times and Channel 4's Dispatches programme has spoken to more than 300 people who know Russell Brand. Ex-girlfriends and their close friends and family, comedians and other celebrities, and people who worked with him on TV and radio. Our journalists have seen private emails and text messages, they've submitted freedom of information requests, they've viewed medical and therapists' notes, scrutinised Brand's books and interviews, and watched and listened to hundreds of hours of his shows in order to investigate the allegations. On today's podcast, we'll be hearing from two of the women who've come forward to tell their stories. A woman in her thirties who says Brand sexually assaulted her when she was 16 And a successful businesswoman who says Brand raped her in Los Angeles in 2012 The Times and The Sunday Times gave Brand eight days to reply to these detailed allegations, among others, including information to help him to recall the alleged incidents. Brand strongly denies all the allegations and posted a video on his YouTube channel.

Russell Brand (5:26)

Amidst this litany of astonishing, rather baroque attacks are some very serious allegations that I absolutely 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've 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 it.

Rosamund Urwin (5:55)

I'm Rosamund Urwin, the media editor of The Sunday Times.

Manveen Rana (5:59)

Ros, for people who haven't really heard of Russell Brand, just give us a sense of how big a star he's been and a bit of his background.

Rosamund Urwin (6:09)