In testimony, woman says Russell Brand forced her to take half-naked photos of him

British actor and comedian Russell Brand arrives at Southwark Crown Court, where he will stand trial on charges of rape and sexual assault involving six women between 1999 and 2009, charges he denies, in London, Great Britain, on October 15, 2026.

Russell Brand's trial reaches its second day this Thursday (15), in London, with the report of the first complainant in the case. The woman claims to have been raped by the actor in a hotel room in 1999, after he asked her to take half-naked photos of him.

According to Sky News, the jury, made up of eight men and four women, watched a video of the woman's testimony. She alleges Brand raped her in his hotel room during the Labor Party conference in 1999. "I doubted whether it was rape because it seemed so normal," she said in the video. "I'm sorry...he basically raped me—I know that happened."

In the video interview with police, the woman said she met Brand and that he was a "gentleman" at first. "I didn't feel like he was hitting on me." She even assumed that Brand was gay and invited him to her hotel room because she thought the actor was interested in a cause she had been talking to him about.

In the bedroom, he says he went to the bathroom and, upon returning, found Brand half-naked, walking around the room playfully. According to her account, he forced her to take photos of him, at which point she began to feel afraid. Brand then allegedly pushed her onto the bed and took off her clothes. She stated that she tried to push him away but couldn't and then became as if she was “out of it”. “But I know you said no,” he told the police.