Russell Brand, a 50-year-old British comedian, said on The Megyn Kelly Show that he had sex with a 16-year-old girl when he was 30 years old and she was 16. He called the meeting “exploitative” because of the power imbalance caused by his fame, even though it was legal in the UK for someone under 16 to have sex. Brand thought back on his past as a “selfish” hedonist driven by addiction and fame, saying he had sex with “thousands” of women from the mid-1990s to 2015.
Brand is facing serious charges, including three counts of rape, three counts of sexual assault, and one count of indecent assault against six women between 1999 and 2005. He has pleaded not guilty to all of them. The trial will take place on October 12, 2026, at Southwark Crown Court in London. During the trial, people who say he assaulted them will testify about things like a hotel rape and being forced to use the bathroom. UK laws protect people under 18 from those in positions of power, even if they are legally adults.
Brand’s podcast promoting his book How to Become a Christian in 7 Days stressed that all of his past relationships were consensual and called claims of non-consensual relationships a “judicial criminal matter.” He says that his Christian faith has helped him change, calling his old self a “drug addict, sex addict, and idiot,” but he says he was never a rapist. The interview comes after investigations in 2023 that led to charges in 2025.
