Russell Brand wants you to believe he's a changed man. He's just been charged with rape.

This story includes descriptions of sexual assault that may be distressing to some readers.

It's been almost two years since comedian and actor Russell Brand was first accused of rape and assault.

Now, UK police have charged Brand with rape and multiple counts of assault over a number of allegations between 1999 and 2005.

Police said Brand was charged with one count of rape, one count of indecent assault, one count of oral rape, and two counts of sexual assault, on charges that relate to four separate women.

The charges relate to four separate women during this time period.

Brand is charged with the rape of a woman in 1999 in Bournemouth; the oral rape and sexual assault of a second woman in 2004; the indecent assault of a woman in 2001; and the sexual assault of a woman between 2004 and 2005. The latter three offences are alleged to have occurred in Westminder, London.

In a statement posted to X, Brand has vehemently denied the charges.

"We're very fortunate to live in a time where there's so little trust in the British government," he said.

"We're very fortunate that this is happening at a time where we know that the law has become a kind of weapon to be used against people, institutions and sometimes entire nations, but will not accept and tolerate levels of corruption are unprecedented."

He then went on to address the charges against him.

"I've always told you guys that when I was young and single, before I had my wife and… my beautiful children, 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 you for your continuing support.

"I'm now going to have the opportunity to defend these charges in court, and I'm incredibly grateful for that."

Police said the "investigation remains open and detectives ask anyone who has been affected by this case, or anyone who has any information, to come forward and speak with police".

Brand is due to appear at Westminster Magistrates' Court on May 2.

While he rose to fame as a provocative stand-up comic turned actor, the 49-year-old has recently become something of a self-styled political commentator and influencer, posting videos on subjects such as personal freedom and the COVID-19 pandemic.

He also turned to spirituality, apparently due to his struggles with addiction, which he chronicled in his 2017 book Recovery: Freedom from Our Addictions. His spiritual journey culminated with a baptism in the Thames in 2024, marking his formal embrace of Christianity.

Brand's decision to embrace God coincided with the allegations of sexual assault that surfaced in 2023, leading some to view his spiritual pivot as a strategic move to rebuild his public image.

What has Russell Brand been accused of?

Brand has been charged with rape and multiple counts of assault — including indecent assault, oral rape, and sexual assault — over a period of time between 1999 and 2005, with four separate women.

But it's not the first time his name has been attached to such allegations.

In 2023, the Sunday Times newspaper and Channel 4 TV's documentary show Dispatches reported that four women had accused Brand of sexual assaults, including a rape, between 2006 and 2013 — a seven-year stretch following time frame for the crimes for which he's been recently been charged.

The 2023 accusations against the comedian and social influencer are based on allegations from four women who knew him over a seven-year period at the height of his fame. One of the alleged victims was just 16 when she says a then-30-year-old Brand sexually assaulted her.

"I couldn't breathe, and I was pushing him away and he wasn't backing off at all," she told The Times and The Sunday Times.

"I ended up having to punch him really hard in the stomach to get him off. I was crying and he said, 'Oh I only wanted to see your mascara run anyway.'"

Brand has always strongly denied these allegations, saying that all of his relationships have been consensual.

Brand's wife, Laura Gallacher, with whom he shares three children, hasn't publicly addressed either the new charges or the older allegations.

The women said that they only felt ready to tell their stories after being approached by reporters, with some citing Brand's newfound prominence as an online wellness influencer as a factor in their decision to speak.

Before the accusations were published, Brand posted a video online denying the allegations, which had been outlined in two "extremely disturbing letters" from a "mainstream media" television company and a newspaper. He didn't identify the news organisations by name.

"Amidst this litany of astonishing, rather baroque attacks are some very serious allegations that I absolutely refute," he said.

"These allegations 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 added: "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."

Brand also suggested that the reports were part of a coordinated attack designed to discredit him because of his views. Brand has been criticised for expressing scepticism about COVID-19 vaccines and interviewing contentious podcasters like Joe Rogan.

"To see that transparency metastasised into something criminal, that I absolutely deny, makes me question is there another agenda at play," Brand said.

What has Katy Perry said about Russell Brand?

The pop singer was married to Brand for 14 months in 2010. In an old interview, Katy said something curious about Brand that suggested she knew something she wasn't ready to share.

"I felt a lot of responsibility for it ending, but then I found out the real truth, which I can't necessarily disclose because I keep it locked in my safe for a rainy day," Perry told Vogue in 2013.

"I let go and I was like, 'This isn't because of me; this is beyond me.' So I have moved on from that."

Perry was famously dumped by Brand via text in 2011.

If this has raised any issues for you, or if you just feel like you need to speak to someone, please call 1800 RESPECT (1800 737 732) – the national sexual assault, domestic and family violence counselling service.

With AAP.

Feature Image: Getty.

This article was originally published in September 2023 and has since been updated.