Lifestyle · Entertainment

Russell Brand Accuser Waives Anonymity, Alleges Rape at 16

A woman who says Russell Brand raped her at 16 has given up her legal anonymity to call for a change to consent law. Brand, 51, was recently sentenced to more than a decade in prison for other offenses. Six more women made allegations in a new investigation.

By Alistair Sterling

November 15, 20262 min read

Russell Brand Accuser Waives Anonymity, Alleges Rape at 16)

A woman who says Russell Brand raped her when she was 16 has waived her legal anonymity to call for a change to consent law, days after the British comedian and actor was sentenced to more than a decade in prison for rape and sexual assault.

Brand was convicted of other offenses involving other women. The new allegation has not been tested in court, and no response from Brand to it has been reported.

Government response

Pat McFadden said changes to the age of consent law will be discussed in the wake of the allegations against Brand. No details of any proposed change have been published.

Six more women come forward

The accuser's decision to go public follows a separate investigation published Thursday by the Times of London and the Sunday Times. Six more women accuse Brand of sexual misconduct spanning the 2000s to 2015.

The investigation draws on interviews with the accusers, friends who were told about the incidents at the time, and archive material including text messages and photographs. The women are identified only by their first names, and one name was changed.

Most of the women say they met Brand during or after his shows. One says she met him while he was performing at a venue in San Francisco.

Two women accuse Brand of sex without their consent in separate incidents. One alleges he did not wear a condom while he raped her. The other says he left her in pain despite her repeatedly saying no.

A woman named Alex, described as an employee, says she met Brand in her 30s and had an on-and-off relationship with him. She alleges "controlling behavior" over her eating and drinking. Another, Vicky, says she was 19 when she met him at a meet-and-greet in 2007.

The allegations in the investigation have not been independently corroborated. Brand's legal representatives did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The trial and sentence

A jury found Brand guilty last week of one count of rape and three counts of sexual assault involving four women. He was acquitted on two counts of rape and one count of attempted indecent assault. The trial lasted three weeks in October.

Brand, 51, was sentenced on Monday to more than a decade in prison. He was a BBC radio host before becoming a Hollywood star in comedies including "Get Him to the Greek" and "Forgetting Sarah Marshall".

The Times published its latest investigation three years after its first exposé, with Channel 4 in September 2023. That earlier reporting paved the way for the criminal prosecution.