British comedian and actor Russell Brand admitted to sleeping with a 16-year-old girl when he was age 30, saying he was being “exploitative.”
Brand revealed his past deed during an appearance on The Megyn Kelly Show, though he clarified 16 is the legal age of consent in the United Kingdom.
“Thank you, Megyn Kelly, for giving me the grace to address, in particular, your anger, which is entirely legitimate and recognizable,” he said. “And the plain fact of it is that in Europe and in the United Kingdom, where I’m from, the age of consent is 16, and I did sleep with a 16-year-old when I was 30, but when I was 30, I was a very different person. I was a lot younger, and I was an immature 30-year-old.”
“Consensual sex, actually, with a variety of people when there is a strong power differential, because there is when you’re a famous man that has the ability to attract women that I had at that time, I think involves exploitation,” he continued. “I think it is exploitative. I recognize that my sexual conduct in the past was selfish and I did not apply enough consideration, barely any, I suppose, really, to how that sex was affecting other people.”
As noted by Variety, Brand was charged with rape in April 2025 along with “indecent assault and sexual assault relating to four separate women in alleged incidents that took place between 1999 and 2005.”
“In December of that same year, a rape and a sexual assault charge were brought against him relating to two other women in incidents that allegedly took place in 2009,” it added. “Brand was originally supposed to stand trial at London’s Southwark Crown Court starting June 16, but last month, it was pushed to Oct. 12.”
Brand has pleaded not guilty to all the charges.
“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,” Brand previously said.
“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.”
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