Russell Brand begged jurors for 'forgiveness' today, telling them he had abused his fame and dedicated his life to 'beyond reckless philandering'.
The 51-year-old comedian said it was 'wrong' that he had used his celebrity to 'facilitate sexual access', saying I 'dedicated a lot of my life to what seems now beyond reckless philandering and idiocy.'
Giving evidence in his trial, the actor told Southwark Crown Court that he once enjoyed 'staggering fame', but allegations of rape and sexual assault meant no one would now 'touch him with a barge pole'.
In an extraordinary appearance on the witness stand, the comedian once known for his verbosity appeared lost for words at times, stumbling in his explanations, his lips moving wordlessly before he haltingly answered questions about alleged attacks on six women.
After a three-year police investigation and almost a fortnight of allegations, Brand's defence lasted just a day, with his case set to wrap up on Thursday morning.
The defendant started his evidence by admitting he had been unable to persuade a single person to give evidence on his behalf following a 'devastating' Channel 4 documentary where the allegations against him were first revealed in 2023.
When his own lawyer Ian Winter, KC, asked, 'Will they touch you with a barge pole?' Brand replied emphatically: 'No.'
During an hour of questioning by his lawyer, the defendant steadfastly denied the seven charges against him, which include three counts of rape, three charges of sexual assault and one count of attempted indecent assault.
Russell Brand leaves Southwark Crown Court, where he faces rape and sexual assault charges. Brand is joined by his wife, Laura Gallacher (pictured)
Brand, in a court sketch from Wednesday, denies all charges against him
He told jurors consent was 'non-negotiable', suggesting it is 'more important than sex itself'.
But as the day wore on, Brand appeared confused and repeatedly had to ask for questions to be explained or repeated as Prosecutor Riel Karmy-Jones, KC, pressed him about his attitude to women and his reported goal of bedding 5,000 women.
Brand had to apologise to jurors for 'inconsistent' details, admitting his 'recollection' of events now was different from the account he first gave in his defence statement.
His voice became quieter as Brand revealed he does now remember some of the victims and alleged incidents, despite insisting to police in interviews that he could not recollect the victims who must have 'invented' or 'reimagined' what happened.
'Since these events occurred, there's been escalating recollection. It's been a deeply traumatic episode of my life I've focused on, at the expense of my marriage, my children and health.
'I ask your forgiveness, well not your forgiveness,' he told the prosecutor.
'I recognise that this recollection includes small details that are inconsistent and I acknowledge that.'
His voice barely audible, the defendant conceded: 'I do recognise I have been a very determined and focused man and with regard to the latter, with women- of course which is the subject of my trial. I've been persuasive, seductive, begging and flirting, and dedicated a lot of my life to what seems now beyond reckless, philandering and idiocy.'
Brand was confronted with extracts from his own 2007 book, My Booky Wook in which he suggested that pretending to be effeminate and gay was a tactic to win women's trust
Brand, pictured on Wednesday, told jurors the allegations and subsequent public backlash had devastated his life and career
He went on: 'As I became more successful and famous, I misused that commodity very selfishly and regrettably. I was very comfortable allowing that to facilitate sexual access which I agree with you was wrong.'
The court heard that Brand regarded his youngest victim aged 21 as a 'tart' after the then 33-year-old star picked her and a 19-year-old girl out of a line-up of fans for a 'threesome' after a Hammersmith Apollo gig in 2009.
Brand is accused of inviting the woman back to his £2.3million Hampstead home days later where he anally raped her, leaving her needing medical treatment.
Ms Karmy-Jones said the victim was saved as a contact in Brand's phone under 'T for Tart' and two stars which may have been a 'rating' following the threesome, which Brand described as a 'marvellous night'.
The prosecutor asked Brand if the traumatised woman who developed an alcohol addiction after the attack was just 'another conquest on your way to 5,000'.
Brand replied: 'I really do not know the numbers, but it is difficult to dispute that, that is how I conducted myself in those years.'
When asked if he saw blood or excrement on his sheets following the alleged rape, Brand shrugged: 'I have a vague recollection but nothing I considered remarkable at the time.'
His wife Laura Gallacher and father Ron watched from the public gallery as Brand explained how he had been 'obsessed' with sex as a younger man, frequently having sexual encounters with women he had just met.
He told jurors that he experienced 'staggering fame' after his brief marriage to pop star Katy Perry in 2010.
But after the 2023 Dispatches programme, the star was so vilified that he was being blocked from visiting his baby son when he was having open-heart surgery at Great Ormond Street Hospital.
Brand was confronted with extracts from his own 2007 book, My Booky Wook in which he suggested that pretending to be effeminate and gay was a tactic to win women's trust.
In the autobiography, Brand wrote of his 'birthright orgasm' saying: 'My egotism and the single-mindedness with which I pursued potentially sexual conquests could often make me uneasy company.'
He wrote of himself as a 'fervid, febrile mass of sexual energy', adding: 'If I want something – whether it's a job or a woman – I will determinedly, resolutely, remove anything that's in the way, until I possess the object of my desire.'
The prosecutor pointed out that Brand refers to himself after sexual encounters as a 'guilty little berk in a sweaty tank top'.
Ms Karmy-Jones told Brand: 'You are guilty.'
He replied: 'No, actually not guilty is my plea in every single case.'
The trial continues.