Russell Brand: Ex-Assistant Claims Women Came to His Apartment All the Time — He ‘Never Seemed Happy’

Editor’s note: This article includes descriptions of alleged sexual offenses that some readers may find upsetting.

A former personal assistant’s witness statement has offered a detailed account of what it was like to work for Russell Brand in the 2000s, as the “Forgetting Sarah Marshall” actor’s trial on charges including rape and sexual assault moves into its third week.

The assistant, who worked for Brand during much of the period when the alleged incidents occurred, described him as someone who “liked walking around in his underwear without a shirt,” said he had an “insane sexual appetite,” and observed that he “never seemed happy after sex, more so depressed,” according to the statement read in court.

Brand is charged with three counts of rape, three counts of sexual assault and one count of indecent assault based on allegations from six women. He has pleaded not guilty to all charges. Deadline has been providing daily coverage from a live courtroom video feed since the trial began.

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The assistant said she spent a great deal of time at Brand’s apartment and that by the end of her employment she was “emotionally exhausted” because he was “a lot to deal with.”

She told the court he was extremely busy then, juggling presenting, media work and stand-up, and that his high sexual activity meant women were frequently turning up at his apartment or in dressing rooms. On one occasion she said she was instructed not to take Brand’s mom or his girlfriend to his dressing room because he was having sex and “didn’t want them to see,” the statement said.

“At a certain point I realized he didn’t often know the women who were coming over,” the assistant said in her statement, adding that Brand behaved like a showman and women were continually drawn to him.

She also said that when Brand was at work and she was at his apartment, he would joke and ask if he could go have sex now, and that he appeared more downcast than content afterward.

The assistant emphasized she never saw Brand do anything she believed to be illegal, nor did anyone disclose an illegal act to her while she worked for him.

She added that, having worked with other celebrities, she had seen problematic behavior become normalized before — but said Brand’s environment was on another level. The way colleagues and associates excused or accepted his conduct made her feel as if that was simply how things were there.

She said she left the job because she had grown tired of him and was burned out.

Brand arrived at London’s Southwark Crown Court again this morning accompanied by his wife, Laura Gallacher. The former assistant’s statement will be among the last pieces of evidence the prosecution presents; the defense is expected to begin its case tomorrow, and Brand is anticipated to give evidence himself.

“He was a superstar”

Earlier in the day, the jury heard witness statements from people connected to three of Brand’s accusers.

One complainant has said she complained to Channel 4 in 2009 after Brand allegedly put his head in her lap and insisted on a massage. A colleague’s statement said the complainant told her that two of Brand’s associates had pressured her to give him the massage on multiple occasions, warning that he would not record a radio advertisement otherwise, and that those associates “watched and laughed” while it happened.

Jury members were also shown text messages from another accuser describing why she did not report an alleged assault at a radio station at the time. Her messages conveyed that Brand was “a superstar” and she believed nothing would happen to him.

The sister of another alleged victim, who says she was orally raped by Brand at a TV producer’s birthday party, provided a statement recounting that her sibling told her Brand’s eyes had gone “completely blank” and that he seemed like a different person or as if he had been possessed during the incident.

The trial is ongoing.