Russell Brand has admitted it was “not the morally sound thing to do” to sleep with a 16-year-old girl when he was 30, and told Piers Morgan he thinks about the prospect of going to prison “every day” as he awaits trial on sexual offence charges.
Speaking on the Piers Morgan Uncensored YouTube channel, Brand said he would face imprisonment “with God” if convicted, while maintaining his innocence. “We are going to find out the truth, and we’re going to deal with the truth,” he said. “If the truth is I am going to prison, then I am.”
The interview touched on Brand’s earlier public admission that he had a relationship with a 16-year-old at the age of 30 — a matter unconnected to the current legal proceedings against him. Asked whether, in retrospect, he should have pursued the relationship, he said: “No, I should not have been doing that.” He described the relationship as legal given the age of consent at the time and place it occurred, but acknowledged it fell short of moral standards. “In the place where I was, that was a legal thing to be doing, but not a morally sound thing to be doing,” he said.
It had previously been reported that the pair dated for three months and that Brand would send cars to the girl’s school to collect her — details highlighted in a recent documentary, though forming no part of the criminal case against him.
Brand attempted to contextualise his past conduct, arguing that a culture that actively celebrated and rewarded promiscuity made it difficult to behave morally. He referenced The Sun’s Shagger of the Year award, which he won on multiple occasions, saying with characteristic dark humour: “Some of the glory’s faded, amidst the rape allegations, the Shagger of the Year titles do not seem quite as valuable, I’ll have to confess. Some of the shine’s come off.”
The comedian added that his views had since undergone a profound transformation, saying he now believed “the only safe place to have sex is within marriage.” He had his Bible with him throughout the interview and read from it at one point, speaking at length about the role his Christian faith now plays in his life.
The exchange was not without tension. Morgan pressed Brand on whether he was a “massive grifter” who promoted views he did not genuinely hold. Brand at one point attempted to take Morgan’s notes, and the host observed that his guest seemed “hyper sensitive” to being challenged. The two also clashed over Covid vaccines, with Brand refusing to say whether his children had been vaccinated, and over Brand’s claim that he had been targeted by a so-called “deep state.”
Brand is due to stand trial at Southwark Crown Court in October, facing three counts of rape, three of sexual assault and one of indecent assault, relating to allegations made by six women covering a period between 1999 and 2009. He denies all charges.
