Russell Brand's rise to Hollywood star, then fall to convicted rapist
By Google News Category Celebrity ·
The disgraced British entertainer-turned-conspiracy theorist charted a course towards fame and notoriety before a criminal trial in London found him to be a sexual predator.
Russell Brand was in his element: on stage in front of an adoring crowd.
It was June 2013, and the comedian and actor was at the height of his fame a year after his divorce from pop star Katy Perry, with a slew of Hollywood comedies under his belt.
Brand was interviewed for a podcast with fellow comic Richard Herring, recorded in front of an audience at Leicester Square Theatre in London.
Singer Katy Perry and actor Russell Brand arrive at the 2011 MTV Video Music Awards at Nokia Theatre L.A.
The episode description joked that the host struggled to decide what to ask ahead of the show: "What do you ask the man who has already admitted everything?"
"I raped someone once," Brand announced, kicking back and crossing his legs as the crowd laughed.
But 14 years later, he sat behind a glass box in a London courtroom and denied he was a rapist.
After a four-week trial, Brand was convicted of one charge of rape and three of sexual assault but acquitted on two charges of rape and one of attempted indecent assault.
On Monday, London time, a judge sentenced him to 10-and-a-half years' jail.
As he left the court in a prison van, Brand's journey from Hollywood's A-list to the UK's sex offender registry was complete.
Russell Brand departing Westminster Magistrates Court in London on May 2, 2025
Over a career spanning 25 years, Brand moved from comedian and actor to political activist, then wellness guru, anti-vaxxer and finally, alt-right Christian influencer.
He started out as a stand-up comedian in the late 1990s, then went on to present music and television programs.
Brand's big break came in the mid-noughties when he started hosting a Big Brother UK spin-off show, called Big Brother's Big Mouth.
By 2007, the comedian was a household name in Britain.
He hosted a radio show on BBC Radio 2 and became a bestselling author with his memoir, My Booky Wook: A Memoir of Sex, Drugs and Stand-Up.
The book detailed encounters with women that included "smashing" a sex worker's phone against the wall and using lies, "tears and blackmail" to manipulate a woman into sex.
"What kind of man was I? Treating women in this way? If this is what I'm telling you, can you imagine what's being left out?" Brand wrote.
Brand's obsession with sex was key to his notoriety.
During his Scandalous stand-up show in 2009, Brand described his stream of consciousness in the lead-up to meeting Queen Elizabeth II: "In the back of my mind, I'm thinking grab her f*****g t*ts".
The joke was used in the show's advertising trailer.
There were controversies, such as the "Sachsgate" scandal in 2008. Brand and his radio show co-host Jonathan Ross left obscene prank messages on actor Andrew Sachs's answering machine, which led to Brand resigning from the BBC.
That same year, he was awarded the Sun newspaper's "Shagger of the Year" for the third time.
When Brand married US pop star Katy Perry in October 2010, he was catapulted into another level of fame.
Brand texted her to say he wanted a divorce, moments before she walked on stage to perform at a New Year's Eve concert in 2011.
By that stage he was established in Hollywood's comedy scene, appearing in Forgetting Sarah Marshall (2008) and Get Him to the Greek (2010).
But over the next few years he drifted further from the mainstream.
By the end…
Originally published by Google News Category Celebrity
