Russell Brand had an “insane sexual appetite” and his bad behaviour was “normalised and dismissed” by those around him, his former personal assistant has told a court. Helen Berger alleged she had seen Brand treat women badly and that she once had to stop his mother and girlfriend walking in on him having sex with someone in his dressing room. She also told the court she had overheard the comedian receiving oral sex in a toilet cubicle and once found a celebrity leaving his bedroom in the morning.
Brand, 51, faces three charges of rape, three of sexual assault and one of indecent assault against six women, in allegations spanning 10 years from 1999. He denies all the charges. Wearing a grey suit and white shirt, Brand sat still in the dock as statements from prosecution witnesses were read to Southwark crown court on Monday.
Berger worked for Brand from June 2006 to February 2007, when he was at the height of his fame. She said the job was one of the hardest she had had because Brand had “non-stop energy”, and she left because she was “sick of him” and burnt out. I think everyone else normalising and dismissing Russell’s behaviour made me think, I guess, this is just the way it is,” Berger said in a May 2024 witness statement to police.
Describing his behaviour, she added: “He was always in his underwear, he loved walking around in his underwear with no shirt on. I remember Sadie Frost came over to interview him. He did the whole interview in his underwear and no shirt and an open robe.” At the time, Brand had filming commitments for Channel 4’s Big Brother as well as MTV and the BBC, a radio show, a national comedy tour, a weekly Guardian column, and was writing a book.
He was very open about what his needs were,” Berger said in the statement, which was read out by the prosecutor, Riel Karmy-Jones KC. When Brand was recording an MTV show, Berger alleged, he told her to ask women for their phone numbers, which she said made her feel uncomfortable. She alleged that on other occasions she had to keep Brand’s mother and girlfriend away from his dressing room because he was having sex, and she overheard him receiving oral sex in a women’s toilet.
Berger described overhearing Brand talking and recognising his trademark cowboy boots in the cubicle next door. Berger recalled that when Brand was headlining the Edinburgh festival, he ended his show by asking that anyone with “a vagina and heartbeat” meet him at a pub afterwards. Many women showed up, Berger said, and she later found him having sex in the shower at the apartment he was renting.
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