Russell Brand Acknowledges Sexual Encounter With 16-Year-Old at Age 30, Discusses Assault Allegations on Megyn Kelly Show

Russell Brand has acknowledged having a sexual encounter with a 16-year-old during his 30s, citing the legal age of consent in the United Kingdom as context while addressing mounting allegations against him.

The 50-year-old performer sat down on The Megyn Kelly Show to discuss the various accusations he faces, which include rape and sexual assault charges.

"The age of consent is 16 in Europe and in the United Kingdom, where I'm from," Brand stated. "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 went on to reflect on the power imbalance inherent in such situations. "When there is a strong power differential, as there is when you're a famous man that has the ability to attract women that I did 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."

Brand characterized his past behavior as driven by his status and personal struggles. "What fame gave me and what my addiction fueled was opportunity for endless consent, which led me to be a hedonist and a fool, and an exploiter of women, and that is wrong. And that is something that needs to be redeemed and addressed and atoned for."

He distinguished between criminal wrongdoing and ethical failings in his response. "What I'm obviously not only querying, but violently or aggressively or assertively opposing, is the idea that this is a judicial criminal matter where consent was overridden. Actually what happened is consent was directed. That's what being famous and being, if I may say, forgive me, charismatic affords you is the ability to direct consent. That doesn't mean it's right. It's actually not right. It's wrong. It's a sin. It's an expression of selfishness and false idolatry."

Brand concluded by invoking a higher authority: "We're not the final say on what's right and wrong. God is the final say."

The comedian currently faces accusations from six women spanning a decade-long period from 1999 to 2009. The charges against him total seven counts: three involving rape, three for sexual assault, and one for indecent assault.

In addition to addressing the allegations, Brand is promoting his forthcoming book, How to Become a Christian in 7 Days, which is characterized as a "testimony and guide to a timeless, yet zeitgeist-capturing, grounded, yet psychedelic encounter with Christ."