LONDON: Russell Brand was sentenced Monday to 10½ years in prison for raping one woman and sexually assaulting three others, and his ex-girlfriend Jemima Goldsmith said she was "glad and relieved" he had "finally faced justice."
Goldsmith, a TV producer who dated Brand for roughly a year around 2014, said in a statement on X on Monday evening that she was "in awe of the courageous women who came forward at Brand's trial."
Goldsmith, 52, alleged Brand subjected her to "violence, coercive control and abuse" during their relationship. She said she "had to call the police to have him removed from my house in 2014 during a violent incident" but chose not to press charges, citing concern about "the impact of the press attention on my then teenage children."
"Whilst my pain in relation to this pales in comparison to what the women have testified in court have suffered, this was a difficult period in my life which has had a lasting impact," she wrote.
Mr Justice Bennathan, sentencing at the hearing, condemned Brand's "staggering arrogance" in using his celebrity status to prey on women, describing him as a "sexual predator" who told "a series of lies" to the court. He told the 51-year-old that he harbored a "casual arrogant disregard to any woman's right to say no to you," and that his fame led him to believe "you could act when you liked and how you liked."
Brand was convicted of raping a woman at his home in 2009 and of three counts of sexual assault against three other women.
Goldsmith said she had not seen or spoken to Brand since 2014 but had assisted journalists who exposed the allegations against him and was willing to testify about his "abusiveness" were she sued.
She also addressed reports of a 2015 injunction obtained by her and Brand that barred a woman, Szilvia Berki, from harassing them, including by making allegations of assault by Brand at Goldsmith's home the previous year. Goldsmith said Berki visited her house on June 7, 2014, to give Brand a massage, which did not take place. She said Berki later told police Brand pushed her in the back as she was leaving and that Goldsmith's dog attacked her; Goldsmith said she "did not see anything untoward" and that police, after reviewing a statement and CCTV footage, concluded there was no case to answer.
Goldsmith accused Berki of sending "vicious antisemitic and threatening" messages and posting "wild and untrue allegations" about her online, and said she agreed to Brand's lawyer's suggestion to seek an injunction. She said recent media reporting of the injunction had exposed her to "vile hatred and abuse online."
Rosamund Urwin, chief news correspondent for The Sunday Times who was involved in a 2023 media investigation into Brand, told the BBC that Goldsmith helped her "a lot."
"I have seen the abuse she's been getting online and I did try to tell people that part of the story was much more complicated than they realise," Urwin said. "I wish people would remember women that come forward are brave people and that is what she has done tonight — she has spoken out with immense bravery about how Russell Brand treated her."
Goldsmith is the former wife of ex-Pakistani Prime Minister and cricketer Imran Khan, the daughter of the late billionaire entrepreneur Sir James Goldsmith and sister of former Conservative government minister Zac Goldsmith.
