Russell Brand has openly acknowledged having sex with a 16-year-old girl when he was 30 years old, making the admission during an appearance on The Megyn Kelly Show published Wednesday, weeks before his rape trial is set to begin.
The 50-year-old comedian and actor addressed the allegations head-on, stating: “The plain fact of it is that in Europe and in the United Kingdom, where I’m from, the age of consent is 16, and I did sleep with a 16-year-old when I was 30, but when I was 30, I was a very different person. I was a lot younger, and I was an immature 30-year-old.”
Brand went further, acknowledging that consensual sex involving a significant power imbalance, such as that created by celebrity status, amounts to exploitation. He said he had been selfish and had not given enough consideration to how his sexual behaviour affected others.
The admission directly echoes one of the most prominent claims against him. A 2023 investigation by The Sunday Times and Channel 4’s Dispatches programme alleged that Brand had a three-month relationship with a 16-year-old girl while he was a BBC radio presenter in his thirties. The woman, known as “Alice,” said Brand referred to her as “the child,” provided her with scripts to deceive her parents, and told her not to trust her friends. Brand had previously denied all allegations stemming from that investigation.
His court case has since grown significantly. Prosecutors charged Brand in April 2025 with one count of rape, one count of oral rape, one count of indecent assault, and two counts of sexual assault, relating to alleged incidents against four women between 1999 and 2005. In December 2025, two additional charges were brought involving two further women in incidents alleged to have occurred in 2009, bringing the total to seven counts involving six women.
A London court combined both sets of charges into a single trial and rescheduled the proceedings to begin on October 12, 2026, with the case now expected to last approximately two months. Brand has pleaded not guilty to all charges.
Brand, who is currently promoting a new book, has been making appearances on conservative media platforms ahead of the trial, while maintaining that he never crossed any legal line in his past relationships.
