Vanessa Feltz Recalls Moment Russell Brand Made Remark on Air
Broadcaster Vanessa Feltz said she was "horrified and disgusted" by a 2006 live TV remark from Russell Brand about her teenage daughters. She spoke on her LBC show after Brand was jailed for 10 years and six months for rape and sexual assaults.
Vanessa Feltz recalls moment Russell Brand asked on live television in 2006 whether he could have sex with her teenage daughters, saying she was "horrified and disgusted". The British broadcaster spoke on her LBC radio show after Brand was jailed on Monday.
Southwark Crown Court sentenced Brand to 10 years and six months for rape and sexual assaults. He was convicted on November 5 of raping one woman and sexually assaulting three others around two decades ago.
What Feltz said
Feltz reflected on the interview 20 years on, in the wake of the conviction. The clip, from Brand's MTV talk show 1 Leicester Square, has resurfaced online. Her daughters were aged 15 and 18 at the time.
"I wasn't able to laugh it off, I didn't want to laugh it off, I didn't think it was at all funny," Feltz said.
She described a studio audience "roaring in the bear pit". Even so, she said, "I could not pretend to think what he said was funny."
The 2006 exchange
In the clip, Brand asked Feltz: "Can I have it off with either you or your daughters?" Feltz grimaced. She answered calmly, "No you may not. Certainly not."
Brand pressed on. "None of them? Hold on, you've got two whole daughters and I can't even have one. Selfish," he said.
Feltz held her ground. "When you have your own daughters, you'll know why I said that," she told him. Brand replied, "Well I won't sleep with them." She answered, "I'm not sure about that."
Brand then said he was "only mucking about". He added: "I'm not actually going to sleep with my own kids. It's only a joke. It's only words."
End of a friendship
Feltz and Brand had been friends in the media industry until that point. She recalled the interview as the moment she knew she had to end the friendship.
"It didn't feel like a joke, and I stopped being friendly with him that night," she said.
Brand, now 51, was cleared of two counts of rape and one count of attempted indecent assault. He had said he was innocent and that all his encounters were consensual.
Support in Australia is available from the National Sexual Assault, Domestic and Family Violence Counselling Service on 1800RESPECT (1800 737 732).
