Jemima Goldsmith Accuses Russell Brand of Domestic Violence

Jemima Goldsmith, the executive producer of The Voice of Hind Rajab and The Bibi Files, has accused Russell Brand of "violence, coercive control and abuse" during their relationship in 2013-14. Her statement came days after a court sentenced Brand to more than ten years in prison for rape and sexual assault.

Goldsmith, who also goes by Jemima Khan, published her account in a post on X/Twitter. "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 wrote.

What does Goldsmith allege?

Goldsmith said she called the police to have Brand removed from her house in 2014, during what she described as 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," she wrote.

She said she has neither seen nor spoken to Brand since that period in 2014. "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 wrote.

Goldsmith also disclosed that she assisted Channel 4, The Times of London and The Sunday Times with their reporting on Brand in 2023. That reporting, she said, was influential in prompting women to pursue criminal proceedings against Brand, which led to his conviction last week.

"I also undertook to testify in court to his abusiveness, if the newspaper that published the victims' accounts were ever to be sued," she said.

What about the 2014 harassment injunction?

Goldsmith used the same post to address reporting and social media commentary about a harassment injunction she and Brand secured against a woman in 2014. That coverage, she said, presented "an untrue narrative" and exposed her to "vile hatred and abuse online."

She laid out her version of the background:

• The woman came to Goldsmith's house for roughly 30 minutes in June 2014, after Goldsmith booked her to give Brand a massage.
• By the time the woman arrived, Brand had decided he did not want a massage and asked her to leave. Goldsmith said the woman "was clearly offended."
• Goldsmith said she was present the whole time and "did not see anything untoward."

"If I saw any man abuse any woman under any circumstances, I would do my utmost to stop them, without hesitation," she wrote.

How did the legal process unfold?

Goldsmith said the woman reported Brand to the police, but officers concluded that "there was no case to answer and that no criminal offence had been committed." Goldsmith alleged the woman then sent "vicious antisemitic and threatening abuse online and in emails."

"Although I was at this point no longer in contact with Brand, I agreed to the suggestion by his lawyer of a harassment order. My sole reason was to stop [the woman] targeting me and my family," Goldsmith wrote. She added that the harassment injunction was upheld by the High Court and the Court of Appeal on several occasions.

The statement lands at a moment when Brand's conviction is already forcing a reckoning across the film and television industry over the conduct that went unchallenged during his years as one of Britain's most visible entertainers.