Highlights
- Goldsmith says she experienced “violence, coercive control and abuse” during her relationship with Brand.
- She says she helped journalists investigate allegations against the comedian in 2023.
- Brand was sentenced to 10 years and six months in prison after being convicted of rape and sexual assault.
JEMIMA GOLDSMITH has accused comedian Russell Brand of violence, coercive control and abuse during their relationship, revealing that she once had to call the police to have him removed from her home following a violent incident.
Goldsmith, 52, said she decided not to press charges or speak publicly about the incident in 2014 because she was concerned about the impact of media attention on her then teenage children.
She made the allegations in a statement on social media platform X on Monday (9), shortly after Brand was sentenced to 10 years and six months in prison for rape and sexual assault.
“I am and have always been strongly and unequivocally on the side of all of Brand’s victims,” she wrote. “I am in awe of the courageous women who came forward at Brand’s trial, told their stories, testified and ensured justice was done.
“I have had my own personal experience of his violence, coercive control and abuse.”
Goldsmith, who is also known professionally as Jemima Khan, said she had not seen or spoken to Brand since 2014.
“Whilst my pain in relation to this pales in comparison to what the women who have testified in court have suffered, this was a difficult period in my life which has had a lasting impact,” she added.
The television producer reportedly dated Brand for about a year from 2013. She had first commissioned him for the New Statesman, where she was an associate editor.
Goldsmith was previously married to former Pakistan prime minister and cricket captain Imran Khan. They married in 1995 and divorced in 2004. She is the daughter of the late businessman Sir James Goldsmith and sister of former Conservative minister Zac Goldsmith.
Brand, 51, was convicted at Southwark Crown Court of one count of rape and three counts of sexual assault involving four women between 2004 and 2009.
He was found guilty of raping a woman at his home in 2009 and sexually assaulting three other women. He was acquitted of two further rape charges and one count of attempted indecent assault.
Helped journalists investigating Brand
Goldsmith also said she had helped journalists investigating allegations against Brand, which became public in 2023 through a Channel 4 Dispatches documentary and reports in The Times and The Sunday Times.
She said she had been prepared to give evidence about his behaviour if a newspaper that published accounts from his alleged victims faced legal action.
Her statement came amid renewed scrutiny of a harassment injunction obtained by her and Brand against massage therapist Szilvia Berki following an incident at Goldsmith's Oxfordshire home in June 2014.
Goldsmith said Berki had visited the property for about 30 minutes after being booked to give Brand a massage. However, by the time she arrived, Brand had changed his mind and asked her to leave.
Goldsmith said she was present throughout the visit and “did not see anything untoward”.
Berki later told police that Brand had pushed her in the back as she was leaving and that she had also been attacked by Goldsmith's dog. Brand denied the allegations.
Goldsmith said she provided a statement and CCTV footage to the police, who concluded there was no case to answer.
She alleged that Berki subsequently sent threatening and antisemitic messages to her and her family. Goldsmith said she agreed to seek a harassment injunction on the advice of Brand's lawyer, with the intention of protecting her family.
“My sole reason was to stop Ms Berki targeting me and my family,” she said.
The injunction, granted by the High Court in 2015, has recently attracted criticism over the restrictions it placed on Berki's ability to discuss the incident.
Goldsmith said media coverage had created an untrue narrative and exposed her to “vile hatred and abuse online”.
Her brother Zac defended her decision, saying the injunction was sought after a “tsunami of deranged, violent and frightening antisemitic threats and abuse”.
