Russell Brand defended his decision to sleep with a 16-year-old girl when he was 30 but admits there was an “exploitative” nature to the consensual sex.
While guesting on Wednesday’s episode of “The Megyn Kelly Show,” Brand addressed the ongoing allegations of sexual assault and sex with minors. The right-wing comedian defended his past decision to sleep with a 16-year-old in Europe and that it was consensual but probably “exploitative.”
“Thank you, Megyn Kelly, for giving me the grace to address, in particular, your anger, which is entirely legitimate and recognizable,” Brand said. “And the plain fact of it is that in Europe and in the United Kingdom, where I’m from, the age of consent is 16, and I did sleep with a 16-year-old when I was 30, but when I was 30, I was a very different person. I was a lot younger, and I was an immature 30-year-old.”
He added: “Consensual sex, actually, with a variety of people when there is a strong power differential, because there is when you’re a famous man that has the ability to attract women that I had at that time, I think involves exploitation. I think it is exploitative. I recognize that my sexual conduct in the past was selfish and I did not apply enough consideration, barely any, I suppose, really, to how that sex was affecting other people.”
Brand has been waiting to begin a trial for rape and sexual assault overseas. The comedian was initially charged with five counts of rape and sexual assault against four women in April 2025: two counts of rape, two counts of sexual assault and one count of indecent assault. He was then charged with an additional count each of rape and sexual assault in December and has pleaded not guilty to all seven charges.
The investigation began in September 2023 when his alleged victims publicly spoke out about incidents that supposedly took place between 2006 and 2013 (the two newer charges are for incidents that allegedly took place in 2009).
“I’ve always told you guys that when I was young and single before I had my wife and family — who are just out of shot over there, my beautiful children — I was a fool, man. I was a fool before I lived in the light of the Lord,” Brand said in a video message a the time of the allegations. “I was a drug addict, a sex addict and an imbecile — but what I never was a rapist. I’ve never engaged in non-consensual activity. I pray that you can see that by looking in my eyes.”
Brand’s trial is currently set for Oct. 12 after being postponed in March.
