Russell Brand sat across from Piers Morgan in New York and admitted he thinks about going to prison every single day — before being left flicking through his Bible for two minutes in search of verses he could not locate, in one of the most uncomfortable television moments of his recent public appearances.
The exchange, broadcast on Piers Morgan Uncensored on YouTube, covered everything from Brand’s rape charges and his past relationship with a teenage girl to his Christian conversion, his views on Covid vaccines and accusations that he is a fraud. What emerged was a portrait of a man under enormous legal and public pressure, navigating the conversation with a mixture of candour, deflection and occasional hostility.
On the criminal case, Brand was direct. He faces rape and assault charges relating to alleged offences between 2006 and 2010, all of which he denies. He has pleaded not guilty. Yet when Morgan pressed him on the reality of a custodial sentence, Brand did not flinch from it. “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.” He said he thought about prison every day and that wherever he ended up, he would be “with God,” though he acknowledged plainly that the thought of being separated from his wife and children was genuinely difficult.
The Bible he had carried into Southwark Crown Court in February became a flashpoint during the interview. When Morgan asked him to locate specific passages, Brand spent around two minutes turning pages without success, falling into an awkward silence that was later mocked extensively online. Morgan had already raised questions about the timing of Brand’s conversion to Christianity, which occurred around seven months after a 2023 documentary brought the allegations against him into public view. Brand insisted his faith was genuine and had given him a framework for facing whatever lay ahead.
His admission about a past relationship with a 16-year-old girl — entirely separate from the criminal case — was among the more candid moments of the interview. Reports have previously indicated the pair dated for three months, with Brand sending cars to collect her from school. Asked whether he should have done it, he said: “No, I should not have been doing that.” He maintained it had been lawful at the time and place, but accepted it lacked moral justification. “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.
Brand sought to place his past behaviour within a broader cultural context, arguing that an entertainment industry which openly celebrated and rewarded promiscuity had made ethical conduct harder to sustain. He brought up The Sun’s Shagger of the Year award, which he won repeatedly, saying: “Some of the glory’s faded, amidst the rape allegations, the Shagger of the Year titles do not seem quite as valuable. Some of the shine’s come off.” He added that his thinking had shifted fundamentally, telling Morgan he now believed “the only safe place to have sex is within marriage.”
The interview grew visibly tense at several points. Morgan asked Brand directly whether he was a “massive grifter” who promoted views he did not genuinely hold, and observed that he appeared “hyper sensitive” when challenged. Brand at one point reached for Morgan’s notes. The two also clashed over Covid vaccines — Brand refused to say whether his children had been vaccinated — and over Brand’s insistence that he had been targeted by a “deep state.”
His trial at Southwark Crown Court is scheduled for October.
