Comedian Russell Brand faces five charges related to sexual assault stemming from incidents that allegedly occurred between 1999-2005.
The charges against Brand follow an 18-month investigation conducted by authorities in the U.K. after four women came forward to accuse Brand of assault.
Brand is known for his stand-up comedy, as well as his roles in films such as “Forgetting Sarah Marshall,” “Get Him to the Greek,” “Despicable Me,” and “Trolls.”
Brand has been charged with one count of rape, one count of indecent assault, one count of oral rape, and two counts of sexual assault, according to the Associated Press.
London’s Metropolitan Police said that the investigation remains open.
Allegations of sexual abuse have overshadowed Brand since 2023, when The Sunday Times, The Times, and Channel 4 Dispatches revealed the results of a joint investigation in which four women came forward with allegations against Brand that included sexual assault and rape, as well as “physical and emotional abuse, sexual harassment and bullying.”
While Brand has admitted to previously engaging in a lifestyle of sexual promiscuity and even soliciting prostitution, he maintains that all of his sexual encounters through the years have been consensual.
“Amidst this litany of astonishing, rather baroque attacks are some very serious allegations that I absolutely refute,” Brand said in 2023.
Several months after these allegations came to light, Brand began sharing on social media about his experience reading the Bible and the works of C.S. Lewis.
In April 2024, Brand was baptized.
“I felt changed, transitioned,” Brand said of being baptized. The ceremony had very “intimate and personal aspects,” he said, and several “bizarre incidents” occurred that felt “serendipitous and laden.”
