Russell Brand Admits to Sleeping With a 16-Year-Old When He Was 30: 'I Think It Is Exploitative'
Apr 22, 2026 5:46pm PT
Russell Brand Admits to Sleeping With a 16-Year-Old When He Was 30: ‘I Think It Is Exploitative’
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Jack Dunn
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Jack Dunn
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Russell Brand recently appeared on “The Megyn Kelly Show” and admitted to sleeping with a 16-year-old when he was 30. While he made sure to note that the age of consent in the United Kingdom is 16, he admitted that sleeping with someone so much younger than him was “exploitative.”
“Thank you, Megyn Kelly, for giving me the grace to address, in particular, your anger, which is entirely legitimate and recognizable,” he said. “And the plain fact of it is that in Europe and in the United Kingdom, where I’m from, the age of consent is 16, and I did sleep with a 16-year-old when I was 30, but when I was 30, I was a very different person. I was a lot younger, and I was an immature 30-year-old.”
Brand continued, “Consensual sex, actually, with a variety of people when there is a strong power differential, because there is when you’re a famous man that has the ability to attract women that I had at that time, I think involves exploitation. I think it is exploitative. I recognize that my sexual conduct in the past was selfish and I did not apply enough consideration, barely any, I suppose, really, to how that sex was affecting other people.”
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In April 2025, Brand was charged with rape, indecent assault and sexual assault relating to four separate women in alleged incidents that took place between 1999 and 2005. In December of that same year, a rape and a sexual assault charge were brought against him relating to two other women in incidents that allegedly took place in 2009. Brand has pleaded not guilty to all charges.
Brand was originally supposed to stand trial at London’s Southwark Crown Court starting June 16, but last month, it was pushed to Oct. 12.
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