Editor’s note: This story contains details of alleged sexual offenses that some readers may find distressing.
A witness statement from Russell Brand’s former assistant has painted a picture of what it was like working for him in the noughties, as the Forgetting Sarah Marshall star’s rape and sexual assault trial enters its third week.
The PA, who worked for Brand during the decade that most of the alleged assaults took place, said he “loved walking around in his underwear with no shirt on,” had an “insane sexual appetite” and “never seemed happy after sex, more so depressed.”
Brand faces three charges of rape, three counts of sexual assault and one of indecent assault based on allegations made by six women. His team will set out his defense later in the trial, and he denies all charges and has pleaded not guilty. Deadline has been reporting daily from a live video feed of the courtroom since the trial began.
The assistant said she spent lots of time at Brand’s flat and was “exhausted emotionally” by the end as he was “a lot to deal with.”
She said he was incredibly busy at the time with presenting, media and comedy work and at the same time alleged his “insane sexual appetite” meant women were constantly coming over to his flat or dressing rooms. Once, the PA was told not to take Brand’s mum or girlfriend to his dressing room as he was having sex and “didn’t want them to see,” she alleged.
“At a certain point I realized he didn’t often know the women who were coming over,” read the statement. “He was like a peacock, women always approached him.”
While Brand was working and she was at his flat, the woman claimed Brand would “joke with me and say, ‘May I go and have sex now?’.” She added that he “never seemed happy after sex, more so depressed.”
The assistant stressed she “never witnessed Russell Brand doing anything against the law or didn’t have anyone disclose anything like that.”
She added: “I have worked with celebrities before and have seen a lot of people normalizing bad behavior, but this was on another level. Everyone normalizing Russell Brand’s behavior made me think, ‘I guess this is just the way it is here.'”
She said she stopped working with Brand eventually because she was “sick of him and feeling burnt out.”
Brand arrived once again at London’s Southwark Crown Court this morning with wife Laura Gallacher. The statement from his ex-assistant will be one of the final pieces of evidence in the prosecution’s case, with Brand’s defense expected to begin tomorrow and the actor expected to take the stand.
“He was a superstar”
Earlier, witness statements were read to the jury from people associated with a trio of Brand’s accusers.
One accuser has previously said she complained to Channel 4 about Brand’s behavior in 2009 after he allegedly put his head in her lap and demanded a massage.
The witness statement, which came from one of the complainant’s Channel 4 colleagues, said she was told that two of Brand’s associates ordered her to give him the massage several times, otherwise he would not record a radio advert. She said her colleague told her Brand’s associates “watched and laughed” while the alleged assault was taking place.
The jury was also read text messages from a different accuser, who said she was assaulted at a radio station, which argued why she didn’t report him at the time. “He was a superstar,” read the texts. “I thought nothing would happen to him.”
The sister of a different alleged victim, who said she was orally raped by Brand when attending the birthday party of a TV producer, provided a statement saying her sibling told her Brand’s eyes went “completely blank, and it was like he’d been possessed or was a completely different person” during the alleged attack.
The trial continues.