‘It did something to me’
A woman who used to work as Russell Brand’s personal assistant has recalled the moment with him that left her feeling “really sick to my stomach.”
On Saturday, Channel 4 and the Times released a joint investigation into Brand, in which the comedian was accused of rape, sexual assault and emotional abuse.
Brand denies the accusations.
One of those who featured in the Dispatches programme was his former personal assistant, Helen Berger.
Berger worked as the comedian’s PA in 2006, just as he was starting to gain fame in the US.
Speaking to Channel 4, she revealed much of Brand’s behaviour made her feel uncomfortable and that she would not put up with it today.
She told the programme: “He always only wore his underwear…his tighty-whities.
“I don’t think today I would accept a boss only being in his underwear around me.”
Berger said that when she got the job as Brand’s assistant, she had only seen him hosting the NME Awards, where he had a particularly frosty exchange with Bob Geldof.
She said: “At the NME Awards, Bob Geldof called him the C-word, haha. When I met Russell, I was like ‘Oh this is weird and refreshing’ and it really did seem like he was on his way up.”
She added: “Russell was on a national comedy tour, he was writing a book, he had a weekly column in The Guardian, he had two shows – Big Brother’s Big Mouth, 1 Leicester TV.”
But it wasn’t long before she realised the truth about his promiscuity, and there was one moment that left her feeling “sick to my stomach.”
Berger recalled how on a trip to Edinburgh the comedian was showing her pictures of women he had slept with.
“As he’s going through these pictures he gets to a picture of somebody I knew,” she said
“It did something to me. It made me feel really sick to my stomach.
“These are women who aren’t expecting to be shown to the dude’s friends.”
But she added that during the time she worked with Brand, she was “never worried” about a lack of consent from women who he would sleep with.
Berger explained: “I saw a lot of women knowing who he was, shagger of the year, willingly were walking into his bedroom and I never once thought that he was somebody that would rape anybody, or assault anybody, no, I didn’t think so, as far as I knew, what could I possibly know when I wasn’t there.”
Four women have accused Brand of sexual assaults between 2006 and 2013, one of whom was 16 at the time, and the Met Police has urged any alleged victims to contact them. Brand, 48, denies all of the allegations.
One of Brand’s accusers has alleged he raped her against a wall in his LA home and that she sought treatment at a rape crisis centre the same day. Another alleged he assaulted her when she was aged 16 during an emotionally abusive and controlling relationship.
A third claims Brand sexually assaulted her in Los Angeles and later threatened to take legal action if she spoke about the allegation to anyone else. And a fourth described being sexually assaulted by Brand and also claimed he was both physically and emotionally abusive towards her.
In a video ahead of the report on Brand, the comedian and former BBC and Channel 4 presenter, issued a video denying what he called “very serious criminal allegations” and reiterated that his relationships have always been consensual.
In his statement, Brand said the allegations against him “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 have written about extensively in my books, I was very, very promiscuous.”
He continued: “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 am being transparent about it now as well.
“To see that transparency metastasised into something criminal, that I absolutely deny, makes me question – is there another agenda at play?”
Brand has claimed that their is witnesses whose evidence “directly contradicts the narrative that these two mainstream media outlets are trying to construct.”
Related links:
Russell Brand offers ‘naked assistant’ to meet Jimmy Savile in resurfaced audio
Andrew Tate reaches out to Russell Brand as comedian faces rape allegations
Comedian Daniel Sloss speaks out about Russell Brand on Channel 4 documentary
