LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA: One of Russell Brand’s accusers, who is referred to as 'Alice' to protect her identity, recently emphasized the need to amend the consent laws as she revealed further details concerning her “traumatic” relationship with the disgraced comedian.
The 48-year-old Brand is currently facing rape and sexual assault charges by four women, including one who alleges that he raped her at his Los Angeles home after she refused a threesome.
Alice, now 31, previously claimed that she started dating Brand when she was just a 16-year-old school girl and he was in his 30s.
Their "emotionally abusive and controlling relationship" lasted three months and Alice described Brand's behavior as that of "grooming."
She alleged that towards the end of their relationship, the comedian sexually assaulted her by "forcing his penis down her throat."
"I was sat up in the bed against the headboard, and he forced his penis down my throat and I couldn’t breathe. It was just choking me and I couldn’t breathe, and I was pushing him away and he wasn’t backing off at all," Alice previously told The Sunday Times, who first revealed the allegations in a joint investigation with The Times and Channel 4 dispatches.
What did Alice say about Russell Brand?
Alice recently expressed how the "gnawing guilt" that Brand may be preying on other victims drove her to eventually come forward.
She claimed to The Sunday Times that when they started talking in 2006, Brand asked her to “send some photos of myself in the bath.”
'I didn’t oblige. When I told him my age, before our first date, he asked me never to send him any nude photographs,’ Alice claimed.
That's because it would have been a crime for Brand to receive sexually explicit photos of the teen, but he was legally allowed to date her.
Alice continued by describing how her parents were powerless to stop the pair from dating. "There was nothing my parents could do to stop the relationship with Russell; no legal recourse," she said.
She detailed how Brand allegedly convinced her that she was old enough to pursue the relationship despite her mother's attempts to ground her, take away her phone, and even go to the comedian himself.
Alice revealed how, on their first date together, a waitress asked if they wanted to see a wine menu, she said she didn't drink, only for Brand to joke that she wasn't legally allowed to.
Why does Alice want changes to consent laws?
Alice has suggested consideration needs to be given to "staggered ages of consent" in law "so that we don't have adults exploiting a 16 [or] 17-year-old's capacity for sexual determination."
“I believe 16 and 17-year-olds should be allowed to explore their sexuality but without undue influence from much older people. They should be able to make mistakes and learn from them, but it should be with an equal,” she explained to The Sunday Times.
She added, “There should be staged consent — a change to the law. The age of consent could stay at 16, but I think it would be reasonable to recommend that it be a criminal offense for a person over the age of 21 to engage in sexual activities with someone under the age of 18.”
“By doing this we might be able to strike a balance between shielding teenagers from harm while respecting their sexual autonomy,” Alice concluded.
