Russell Brand reportedly used a BBC car to chauffeur one of his accusers to his house when she was 16 years old.
The woman, who has gone under the name ‘Alice’, is one of four women who have accused the comedian of rape and sexual assault as part of an investigation by The Times, The Sunday Times and Channel 4’s Dispatches. Brand has denied the allegations.
Speaking on Radio 4’s Women’s Hour, Alice recalled: “He had a friend who was taking him to do his radio show so he said to me, ‘You get in the car and you go wherever you need to go from there’, so I took the BBC car that time. And on another occasion it picked me up from school […] it was back to his house.”
The BBC have confirmed an inquiry into the claims, saying the investigation “contained serious allegations, spanning a number of years,” and added: “Russell Brand worked on BBC radio programmes between 2006 and 2008 and we are urgently looking into the issues raised.”
Alice also spoke further about the relationship with Brand, saying what happened when she told the comedian that she was 16.
“He just replied saying, ‘OK, so we’re still on for dinner at 7.30?'” she said. “He was 30. Now that I’m in my 30s looking at 16-year-olds, I can’t even imagine finding them sexually attractive. I can’t imagine even thinking of them as a potential mate in any way.”
She added: “Russell groomed me and told me to save his number in my phone as a different name… He coached me on what to say to my parents.”
She also detailed the impact it had had on her life and relationships, saying she “felt used up, I felt cheap, I felt dirtied by the whole thing and so then I went on to have another series of relationships with people that were, for want of a better word, sleazy.
“Because I just thought if I go for bottom of the barrel I can never be disappointed and I can never be hurt because I know to expect the absolute worst.”
Responding to the claims from the four women, Brand said in a video posted before the investigation was made public that he denied the “very serious criminal allegations”, and said that all his relationships have been consensual.
This is happening pic.twitter.com/N8zIKLbJN2
— Russell Brand (@rustyrockets) September 15, 2023
“Amidst this litany of astonishing, rather baroque attacks are some very serious allegations that I absolutely refute,” he said. “These allegations pertain to the time when I was working in the mainstream, when I was in the newspapers all the time, when I was in the movies, and as I have written about extensively in my books, I was very, very promiscuous.
“Now during that time of promiscuity the relationships I had were absolutely, always consensual. I was always transparent about that then, almost too transparent, and I am being transparent about it now as well. To see that transparency metastasised into something criminal, that I absolutely deny, makes me question – is there another agenda at play?”
Responding to Brand’s denial, Alice called his words “insulting”, adding: “It’s laughable that he would even imply that this is some kind of mainstream media conspiracy. He’s not outside the mainstream.”
Alongside the BBC, Channel 4 have begun their own investigation into Brand, while the Metropolitan Police have requested information from the Times and Channel 4 investigation concerning any alleged offences, and urged any victims to come forward.
Additionally, Women’s charity Trevi Women and literacy agency Tavistock Wood have cut ties with the comedian, and all episodes featuring Brand have been removed from Channel 4’s streaming service.
NME has reached out to Brand’s representatives regarding the latest allegations.
For help, advice or more information regarding sexual harassment, assault and rape in the UK, visit the Rape Crisis charity website. In the US, visit RAINN.
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