Featured Image Credit: Piers Morgan Uncensored
Topics: Piers Morgan, Russell Brand, Film and TV, Celebrity, Crime
Lucy Devine
Topics: Piers Morgan, Russell Brand, Film and TV, Celebrity, Crime
Warning: This article contains discussion of rape, sexual assault and sexual harassment which some readers may find distressing.
Russell Brand was caught up in a 'painful' moment with Piers Morgan on Friday evening (April 24) when he was asked a question about the Bible.
Brand is currently facing trial on three counts of rape, three counts of sexual assault and one count of indecent assault between the years of 1999 and 2009.
Brand has always denied all charges against him.
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He appeared on Morgan's YouTube show, Piers Morgan Uncensored, on Friday, where he spoke about the possibility of going to jail. He told Morgan: "I will be with God wherever I am. And of course, I would prefer to be with God with my wife and my kids… I’m not saying that that’s not a difficult image, you know, and a difficult thing to contemplate, of course it is.
"We are going to find out the truth, and we’re going to deal with the truth.
“Because actually, I am not afraid of the truth and if the truth is if I am going to prison, then I am. My job will be, do not be afraid of that truth, that is what you are going to do.”
At one point during the interview, Morgan asks Brand about his Bible.
"Was that the one you took into court? You were seen looking at some passages, what were the relevant passages to you?"
Brand then spends over a minute searching through the Bible, in a moment that viewers called 'painful'.
One person wrote on X: "The discipline of @piersmorgan to just sit there silently for the excruciating 90 seconds of page turning without interjecting at all…props."
While another said: "Honestly, that's a great skill right there. He doesn't have to tell Russell, this is embarrassing. Everyone can see!"
And a third added: “This is so painful to watch."
In an earlier interview on The Megyn Kelly Show podcast, Brand admitted he had had sex with a 16-year-old girl when he was aged 30.
He said: “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.”
He added: “I did not apply enough consideration, barely any I suppose, really, to how that sex was affecting other people.”
In a statement posted to his social media followers last April, Brand said: "Me, I’ve always told you guys that when I was young and single, before I had my wife and family… I was a fool man.
"I was a fool before I lived in the light of the lord. I was a drug addict, a sex addict and an imbecile, but what I never was, was a rapist. I've never engaged in non consensual activity. I pray that you can see that by looking in my eyes. I want to thank all of your for your continuing support."
If you've been affected by any of the issues in this article, you can contact The National Sexual Assault Hotline on 800.656.HOPE (4673), available 24/7. Or you can chat online via online.rainn.org