A former model claims Russell Brand ‘hunted her down’ after meeting her in a bar in 2003 and claimed she ‘ran away’ when he wouldn’t take no for an answer
An ex-model has claimed she “ran away” from Russell Brand after he allegedly followed her from a bar.
The woman has claimed the comedian “made a beeline” for her after meeting on a night out in London’s Primrose Hill in 2005. At the time he was presenting Big Brother’s Big Mouth on Channel 4. She said she made it clear she wasn’t interested in his advances, but when she left, she alleged Brand suddenly “appeared from nowhere” and “that’s when it got creepy”. She described him walking five paces behind her for what “felt like a lifetime”.
Brand, who has been accused of being a sexual predator by several women in a joint investigation by The Times and Channel 4’s Dispatches, is then alleged to have told the woman: “Let’s just f*** right here.” Recalling the alleged “stomach churning” moment, the woman – who has remained anonymous and was aged in her 20s at the time of the alleged incident – said: “I’m 5ft 10in so I’m not small, but he was quite a big guy and it was one of the few times I was really scared.
“I definitely felt that in his head this was all a bit of fun, but it wasn’t. I was so rattled by it that I started to run. I ran as fast as I could to get away from him. He crossed the line and made me feel totally unsafe.
“It felt like he was hunting me down. It wasn’t flirty or fun. The word ‘predator’ is absolutely spot on. He was dead set on his goal. His intention was to have sex with someone, anyone,” she told The Sun.
The woman, who is now in her 40s, has since watched the Dispatches programme in which four women, including one who was 16 at the time, make allegations against Brand, which date from 2006 to 2013. She said she realised others had “not been so lucky” and had been unable to sleep since. She is now preparing to speak to police, according to reports.
Since the programme aired over the weekend, a fifth woman has come forward claiming she was sexually assaulted by Brand in 2003. Met Police confirmed: “On Sunday, September 17, the Met received a report of a sexual assault which was alleged to have taken place in Soho in central London in 2003.
“Officers are in contact with the woman and will be providing her with support. We first spoke with The Sunday Times on Saturday September 16 and have since made further approaches to The Sunday Times and Channel 4 to ensure that anyone who believes they have been the victim of a sexual offence is aware of how to report this to the police.”
The allegations from the Dispatches documentary claimed one of the women was just 16 and still at school when Brand, who was then 31, dated her for three months. She alleged he would refer to her as “the child”, control what she wore and once “forced his penis down her throat”. Now in her 30s, she said she has since realised the behaviour was “grooming”.
A second woman claimed to have been raped by Brand at his LA home. A third woman, who used to work for Brand, alleged he attacked her at his LA house and threatened to take legal action against her if she ever reported it. While a fourth woman described being sexually assaulted by Brand, who she also claims was physically and emotionally abusive.
Brand has strongly denied allegations of rape, sexual assault and abuse. The 48-year-old took to social media to “absolutely refute” the claims and said his relationships were “absolutely, always consensual”.
He said: "I’ve received two extremely disturbing letters, or a letter, and an email, one from a mainstream media TV company, one from a newspaper, listing a litany of extremely egregious and aggressive attacks, as well as some pretty stupid stuff like, my community festival should be stopped, that I shouldn’t be able to attack mainstream media narratives on this channel, but amidst this litany of astonishing, rather baroque attacks are some very serious allegations that I absolutely refute.
“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’ve 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’m being transparent about it now as well, and to see that transparency metastasised into something criminal, that I absolutely deny, makes me question, is there another agenda at play?”
Promoters have since confirmed upcoming shows for Brand’s Bipolarisation tour have been cancelled. YouTube has also suspended the of monetisation of Russell Brand’s channel because of the allegations made against the comedian.
In a statement, the video channel said: “We have suspended monetisation on Russell Brand ’s channel for violating our Creator Responsibility policy. If a creator’s off-platform behaviour harms our users, employees or ecosystem, we take action to protect the community.”