Jemima Goldsmith Accuses Ex Russell Brand Of 'Violence' And 'Coercive Control'

The writer and producer Jemima Goldsmith has accused Russell Brand of “violence, coercive control and abuse” during their past relationship.

Goldsmith – then known publicly as Jemima Khan – and Brand dated for around a year in the 2010s.

Following Brand’s conviction for rape and sexual assault last week, a past story about the disgraced comedian being granted an injunction against a woman who accused him of misconduct during his with relationship with Goldsmith resurfacedin the press, which she said on Monday evening had prompted her to speak out on X. 

Goldsmith began by saying she was “going to describe some painful and personal things in relation to Russell Brand” because she felt she’d been “put in a position” in which she had “no choice other than to do so, given the misleading reports and speculation around the facts of a harassment injunction that was taken out to protect me and my family”.

She wrote: “Firstly, and most importantly, 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.

“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. I chose not to press charges at the time and not to go public with this, as I was worried about the impact of the press attention on my then teenage children.”

Pointing out that she’d “neither seen nor spoken to Brand since that period in 2014”, she continued: “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 also alleged that she’d “assisted the journalists who finally exposed him” and “undertook to testify in court to his abusiveness, if the newspaper that published the victims’ accounts were ever to be sued”.

Elsewhere in her statement, Goldsmith took the opportunity to share her side of the story with regard to the resurfaced reports.

“In 2014, a harassment injunction was taken out against a woman called Szilvia Berki which was made final in 2015,” she said. “I fully understand the good intentions of those now advocating on her behalf online and agree with their demand for this harassment injunction to be varied, as my lawyer made clear to Berki’s lawyer in December last year.

“However, the commentary and media reporting this week has presented an untrue narrative, which has opened me up to vile hatred and abuse online. For this reason, and to correct the record, I am providing the factual background to that injunction to explain why The High Court found the campaign of harassment by Berki against me to be, ‘oppressive and unacceptable’ and made the order permanent.

“The background to this is that Ms Berki came to my house for roughly 30 minutes in June 2014, after I booked her to give a massage to Brand. By the time she arrived he had decided he didn’t want a massage and asked her to leave. She was clearly offended.

“I was present the whole time he was with her, and I did not see anything untoward, despite the fact that he was later found guilty of sexually assaulting other women and he later physically assaulted me. If I saw any man abuse any woman under any circumstances, I would do my utmost to stop them, without hesitation.

“Ms Berki later reported to the police that Brand had pushed her in the back whilst she was leaving the house and that she also said she was ‘attacked’ by my dog, which she described in her police statement as my dog licking her face.

“The police rightly investigated Ms Berki’s complaint. I cooperated fully with the investigation, provided a truthful statement about what I saw and also provided CCTV footage, which showed my overly exuberant but totally unaggressive dog jumping up.

“Following an investigation into Ms Berki’s allegations, police concluded that there was no case to answer and that no criminal offence had been committed. According to the police, at no time did Ms Berki ever state to them that she had been assaulted, threatened or falsely imprisoned.”

Goldsmith went on to share a series of antisemitic comments she allegedly received in emails from Berki preceding the harassment injunction, claiming that she also contacted Goldsmith’s family and colleagues and posted “wild and untrue allegations” about her on social media.

“I hope this information will help clarify speculation about my involvement in the anti-harassment order,” she conclude. “I am glad and relieved that Russell Brand has finally faced justice.”

HuffPost UK has contacted Russell Brand’s legal team for comment.

On Monday, Brand was sentenced to 10-and-a-half years in prison after being found guilty last week of one count of rape and three counts of sexual assault.

Police are now investigating further allegations of rape against the former Forgetting Sarah Marshall actor.