Jemima Goldsmith accused Russell Brand of violence, coercive control and abuse hours after the disgraced comedian was sentenced to 10 and a half years in prison at Southwark Crown Court on Monday. Goldsmith, who dated Brand for about a year until September 2014, said she once had to call police to remove him from her home during a violent incident.
In a lengthy statement posted on social media, she said she chose not to press charges at the time because she feared the press attention would harm her teenage children. She said the episode left a lasting mark on her life.
What Jemima Goldsmith said in her statement
Goldsmith, the heiress and film producer who was previously married to the former Pakistan prime minister and cricketer Imran Khan, said she stood firmly with Brand's victims. Her statement came within hours of sentencing, and it was reported by the Irish Independent on Monday evening.
She said: 'I am and have always been strongly and unequivocally on the side of all of Brand's victims. I am in awe of the courageous women who came forward at Brand's trial, told their stories, testified and ensured justice was done.'
She went further about her own experience with the 51-year-old.
'I have had my own personal experience of his violence, coercive control and abuse. I had to call the police to have him removed from my house in 2014 during a violent incident.'
She said she decided against pressing charges and against going public at the time. Her worry was her children, then teenagers, and what the glare of the media would do to them. She has neither seen nor spoken to Brand since 2014.
She added that her own pain 'pales in comparison' to what the women who testified in court suffered, but described it as a difficult period in her life which has had a lasting impact.
Why she stayed silent for over a decade
Goldsmith revealed she spent several years assisting the journalists at Channel 4 Dispatches, The Times and The Sunday Times who first reported accusations of sexual misconduct against Brand in 2023. She even offered to testify in court about the abuse she says she suffered, if those outlets were sued over their reporting.
Her silence, in other words, was not indifference. It was the calculation of a mother protecting her children from a media machine she did not trust to be gentle. That is a calculation many women in her position will recognise, and it says something uncomfortable about how our press treats women who come forward.
The BBC reported that Goldsmith's statement accused Brand of 'violence and abuse' during their relationship. The Independent confirmed she claimed she had to call police to have him removed from her house.
The 2015 harassment injunction she wants to clarify
Goldsmith said she issued her 1,534-word statement partly in response to what she called misleading reports about a harassment injunction she and Brand secured against a masseuse in 2015.
The case stemmed from a birthday present massage that Goldsmith arranged for Brand in June 2014, which was never taken up. The masseuse, Szilvia Berki, claimed she was assaulted by Brand, which he denied. Police investigated and concluded there was no case to answer.
Goldsmith said she was present the whole time Brand was with Berki and saw nothing untoward.
'If I saw any man abuse any woman under any circumstances, I would do my utmost to stop them, without hesitation.'
She alleged that after the claim was made, Berki began a campaign of harassment against her, including disturbing emails and untrue stories planted in the press, some containing antisemitic comments that were submitted to the judge who granted the injunction.
She said she agreed to the harassment order, suggested by Brand's lawyer, for one reason only: to stop Berki targeting her and her family. She was no longer in contact with Brand at that point.
She concluded: 'I hope this information will help clarify speculation about my involvement in the anti-harassment order. I am glad and relieved that Russell Brand has finally faced justice.'
The Irish Independent said it has been unable to contact Ms Berki.
The sentence and what it means
Brand was sentenced on Monday to 10 and a half years for raping one of his fans and sexually assaulting three TV and radio workers during his rise to international fame. The ABC News reported the sentence was delivered in the United Kingdom on Monday, local time.
The conviction followed years of investigative journalism by The Times, The Sunday Times and Channel 4 Dispatches, work Goldsmith quietly supported behind the scenes. Without those reports, and without the women who testified, Monday's sentence would not have happened.
For the women who came forward, and for those like Goldsmith who carried their silence for years, the sentence is a measure of accountability that arrived late but arrived all the same. The system worked in the end. It just took far too long, and it asked too much of too many women to get there.
Questions people are asking
What did Jemima Goldsmith accuse Russell Brand of?
Goldsmith accused Brand of violence, coercive control and abuse during their relationship, which lasted until September 2014. She said she called police to remove him from her home during a violent incident in 2014.
Why did Jemima Goldsmith not press charges in 2014?
She said she was worried about the impact of press attention on her then teenage children, so she chose not to press charges or go public at the time.
How long was Russell Brand sentenced to prison for?
Brand was sentenced to 10 and a half years in prison on Monday at Southwark Crown Court for raping one of his fans and sexually assaulting three TV and radio workers.