Jemima Goldsmith, former girlfriend of British comedian Russell Brand, has accused him of violence, coercive control and abuse during their relationship, alleging that she once had to call the police to remove him from her home following a violent incident.
Goldsmith, who dated Brand for about a year in 2014, made the allegations in a lengthy statement posted on social media on Monday.
She said she had contacted the police during the incident but decided against pressing charges.
The 52-year-old also expressed support for the women who testified against the entertainer during his trial, saying she was “in awe of the courageous women who came forward at Brand’s trial” and was “glad and relieved” he had “finally faced justice”.
Brand, 51, was sentenced to 10-and-a-half years in prison on Monday after being convicted of rape and sexual assault involving four women. He was found guilty of raping a woman at his home in 2009 and sexually assaulting three other women.
During sentencing, the judge criticised Brand’s attitude towards women, saying he had shown a “casual arrogant disregard to any woman’s right to say no to you”.
The judge added that Brand’s celebrity status had made him believe “you could act when you liked and how you liked”.
Goldsmith, a television producer and former wife of ex-Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan, said she did not pursue legal action against Brand over the alleged incident because she feared the consequences of media attention for her teenage children at the time.
She said the experience had left a lasting impact on her, although she acknowledged that her suffering was nothing compared with that of the women who testified against Brand in court.
“Whilst my pain in relation to this pales in comparison to what the women have testified in court have suffered, this was a difficult period in my life which has had a lasting impact,” she wrote.
Goldsmith disclosed that she had neither seen nor spoken to Brand since 2014.
However, she said she had assisted journalists investigating allegations against him and had been prepared to testify about his “abusiveness” if he had taken legal action against them.
She also addressed controversy surrounding an injunction obtained by her and Brand in October 2015 against a woman, Szilvia Berki.
The order prevented Berki from harassing the former couple, including through allegations that Brand had assaulted her at Goldsmith’s residence the previous year.
According to Goldsmith, Berki visited her home on June 7, 2014, for about 30 minutes to give Brand a massage. However, she said the massage did not take place after she arrived.
Goldsmith explained that Berki subsequently told the police that Brand had pushed her from behind as she was leaving and that Goldsmith’s dog had attacked her.
She, however, maintained that she “did not see anything untoward” during the encounter.
She said she provided the police with a statement and CCTV footage, after which officers concluded that there was no case to answer.
Goldsmith further accused Berki of sending her “vicious antisemitic and threatening” messages and publishing “wild and untrue allegations” about her on social media.
She said she eventually accepted a recommendation from Brand’s lawyer to seek an injunction to prevent further harassment.
However, Goldsmith claimed that recent media coverage of the injunction had exposed her to renewed online attacks, saying it had opened her up “to vile hatred and abuse online”.
Rosamund Urwin, chief news correspondent of The Sunday Times, who was involved in the media investigation into Brand in 2023, confirmed that Goldsmith had provided significant assistance to the journalists.
Urwin told the BBC that she had seen the online abuse directed at Goldsmith and had attempted to explain that the circumstances surrounding the injunction were more complicated than some reports suggested.
“I wish people would remember women that come forward are brave people and that is what she has done tonight – she has spoken out with immense bravery about how Russell Brand treated her,” Urwin said.
Meanwhile, the court heard victim impact statements from the women involved in Brand’s criminal case during Monday’s sentencing proceedings.
One of the victims said she had been “upset and traumatised” for years following the incident, explaining that the experience affected her self-esteem and made her fearful of being misunderstood.
The woman Brand was convicted of raping also described the lasting psychological impact of the assault, saying the trauma was something she had to “carry every day”.
A van believed to be transporting Brand was seen arriving at HMP Wandsworth in London following the sentencing hearing.
Under sentencing guidelines, offenders jailed for at least four years for certain serious violent and sexual offences are eligible for release after serving two-thirds of their prison terms.
This means Brand could serve seven years before being released, after which he is expected to remain on licence for the rest of his sentence and comply with conditions, including wearing an electronic tag.
Brand was convicted of offences involving four women between 2004 and 2009 following a four-week trial at Southwark Crown Court.
However, he was acquitted of two counts of rape and one count of attempted indecent assault.
