Russell Brand is addressing his past drug use after being charged two months ago with rape and sexual assault in the U.K.
“I used to take quite a lot of cocaine, crack, heroin, LSD, methamphetamines, ecstasy and marijuana, as well as pharmaceutical drugs, but now I’m lit up by the Holy Spirit,” the English comedian posted via Instagram on Monday, May 12.
In April, London’s Metropolitan Police charged Brand, 49 — who has recently talked about his Christian beliefs on social media — with one count of rape, one count of indecent assault, one count of oral rape and two counts of sexual assault. The claims come from four different women between 1999 and 2005.
Brand has denied the allegations.
“When I was young and single, before I had my wife and family, I was a fool,” Brand said in an X video at the time of the charges. “I was a fool before I lived in the light of the Lord. I was a drug addict, a sex addict and an imbecile, but what I never was … was a rapist. I’ve never engaged in nonconsensual activity. I pray that you can see that by looking in my eyes.”
He appeared at Westminster Magistrates’ Court on May 2 for his first hearing on the charges. He was granted conditional bail ahead of another hearing set for May 30.
Brand was accused of sexual misconduct in a 2023 Channel 4 documentary, which he denied ahead of its release.
“As I’ve written about extensively in my books, I was very, very promiscuous,” he said in a September 2023 video posted on X. “Now during that time of promiscuity, the relationships I had were absolutely, always consensual. I was always transparent about that then — almost too transparent.”
Brand rose to fame as a standup comic during the 2000s, and eventually won roles in Hollywood comedies like Forgetting Sarah Marshall and Get Him to the Greek. He has since focused on internet punditry, where he posts videos criticizing the mainstream media and spreading conspiracy theories. He’s also converted to Christianity. In spring 2024, he was baptized by Bear Grylls in the River Thames.
Brand was married to Katy Perry from 2010 to 2012, and has since settled down with wife Laura Gallacher, whom he wed in 2017. The pair share two daughters and a son.
Just one day before news broke of his rape and sexual assault charges, Brand took to his podcast to talk about the end of his marriage to Perry, 40, saying, “The reasons that a marriage didn’t work are the normal human reasons [why] marriages don’t work, and I have nothing but respect for her.”
He continued: “I obviously disagree with [Perry’s] political views. But I probably disagree with some of my wife’s political views, my beloved wife, Laura Brand’s political views. So, you know, you always disagree with people, don’t ya?”
