Alice, one of four women to accuse Russell Brand of sexual abuse, says it feels "surreal" to see her story being reported everywhere.

She tells BBC Radio 4's Woman's Hour that she wasn't expecting her story to "make such an impact" because "when it's your own story it's hard to look at it objectively".

Alice, not her real name, says she can't say she's "glad because it's been an unpleasant experience".

But she adds it was important to come forward to protect people in the future.

Stay here for more comments from Alice.

In a few moments on Radio 4 we'll be hearing from one of the women who has accused Brand of sexual and emotional abuse.

She says it happened during a three-month relationship in 2006, when she was 16 years old and the actor was 30.

The woman, who is being called Alice, says Brand sent a taxi to her school to take her out of lessons to his home, asked her to save his number in her phone under a fake woman's name, and eventually violently sexually assaulted her.

We'll bring you her comments in full here, and you can listen to Woman's Hour by clicking that button at the top of the page.

As a reminder, Brand says he "absolutely refutes" the "very serious allegations".

If you are just joining us... Here is what we know about the allegations against British actor and comedian Russell Brand:

• Russell Brand has been accused of rape, sexual assaults and emotional abuse by four women during a seven year period during late 2000's
• The allegations were made public in a joint investigation by the Sunday Times, the Times and Channel 4’s Dispatches, external

• Brand denied all the claims on a video post on social media
• Conservative MP and Chair of the Women and Equalities Committee Caroline Nokes told the BBC that a criminal investigation should take place into the allegations
• Brand was still on tour on Saturday and appeared distracted after the reports came out
• The Metropolitan Police said they have spoken to the Sunday Times and Channel 4, but "have not received any reports in relation to this"
• The BBC also said that they are "urgently looking into the issues raised" in a statement
• Channel 4, where Brand also worked as a presenter, announced they have started an internal investigation. They also removed content featuring Brand from its streaming service

Dominic Casciani
Home and Legal Correspondent

The UK's police follow very tight rules over what they publicise about investigations - so there's been a firm "no comment" from the Metropolitan Police as to whether or not it has launched an inquiry into Russell Brand.

Scotland Yard's latest statement confirmed that the force was contacting the Sunday Times and Channel 4 to ensure anyone who thinks they were a victim of a crime knows how to report it.

This is a long way short of publicly saying there is going to be a criminal investigation. And that's because they need some actual hard evidence beyond a media expose.

An important feature of this story has been how the reporters say they have sought to corroborate allegations. Text messages are a key feature of one of the allegations - which Russell Brand denies.

Mobile phone evidence regularly features in sexual assault trials. So if any of the women speak to police in London or Los Angeles, detectives will want to see that kind of detail so they and prosecutors can assess whether it would support an alleged victim's account in court.

David Yelland, former editor of The Sun, says that the culture in the media at the time of the allegations against Russell Brand allowed certain individuals to behave in a misogynistic manner.

Speaking on Radio 4's Today programme, he says that people are blaming Channel 4 and BBC but "we were all part of this culture".

Yelland also said that nobody is talking about the platform he has now on social media.

"We are all looking back at the BBC and the agency that advises him and Channel 4. Russell Brand still has a platform on YouTube, he has 6.6 million followers, which is 100% owned by Google.

"The story is not the reputational risk at the moment, and the crisis is not about the legacy media institutions, it is what is happening right now and we are not talking about it."

Image source, Getty Images

The 48-year-old, who was born in Essex, surged to fame as the host of Big Brother's Big Mouth, and went on to star in Hollywood films, marry and divorce one of the world's most famous pop stars - Katy Perry - and cause one of the biggest scandals in the BBC's history.

Over the years, he developed a cult following for his views on politics and society, and more recently has dabbled in the world of conspiracy theories in videos posted on YouTube and Rumble.

But Brand started his career in entertainment as a stand-up comedian, performing at the Hackney Empire in 2000 and later the Edinburgh Fringe.

Much of his content drew on personal experience - Brand has always been open about his use of illegal drugs and addiction to sex. He would later write about both, external in his autobiography My Booky Wook, and his experiences helped shape his political activism.

The Los Angeles Police Department has told the BBC it has not been made aware of any complaints over Russell Brand.

Reports over the weekend allege Brand was responsible for two sexual assaults while living in the city in California, one of which resulted in a woman being admitted to a rape treatment centre.

Officials reportedly contacted the police but the woman decided not to press charges.

Speaking yesterday, a spokesperson for the LAPD also said the force currently had nothing to add to the reports in the British media.

It is vital women who have been a victim of sexual abuse "speak out" and contact the police, government minister Laura Trott has said.

Speaking on BBC Breakfast, Trott also paid tribute to the alleged victims who have come forward, as well as journalists who have covered their stories given the legal risk of doing so.

"Any woman reading the allegations over the weekend would have shuddered," she says.

Trott also called for women to report to the police if they have been assaulted, as "that is the way we will make some real change".

Image source, X

Before the details of the sexual allegations were published, Russell Brand shared a video of himself speaking to a camera and denying the claims.

"Amidst this litany of astonishing, rather baroque attacks are some very serious allegations that I absolutely refute," he said.

"These allegations pertain to the time when I was working in the mainstream, when I was in the newspapers all the time, when I was in the movies, and as I've written about extensively in my books I was very, very promiscuous.

"Now during that time of promiscuity the relationships I had were absolutely, always consensual."

He said that he was "almost too transparent" about that and asked if "there was another agenda at play".

Brand said he believed he was the subject of a "co-ordinated attack" and he was going to look into the matter because it was "very, very serious".

The Metropolitan Police also released a statement on Sunday saying it has spoken to the Sunday Times and will again, as well as talking to Channel 4.

They said: "We are aware of media reporting of a series of allegations of sexual assault. At this time, we have not received any reports in relation to this.

"If anyone believes they have been the victim of a sexual assault, no matter how long ago it happened, we would encourage them to contact police.

"We spoke with the Sunday Times on Saturday, September 16. We will be making further approaches to the Sunday Times and Channel 4 to ensure that any victims of crime who they have spoken with are aware of how they may report any criminal allegations to police."

Responding to the allegations made in the investigation published over the weekend, the BBC had this to say:

The allegations against Russell Brand are "incredibly shocking and criminal", Conservative MP and Chair of the Women and Equalities Committee Caroline Nokes has told the BBC.

Speaking on Radio 4's Today programme she urged the women to speak to the police in the UK and US.

She says that there are "some serious questions about who knew what and when".

Nokes says that her committee is looking at misogyny in the music industry at the moment, another part of the entertainment sector where "they have heard shocking stories and heard from women who have been too scared to speak out".

Nokes concludes saying that we all have a responsibility, including in wider society and the education system to call out behaviour that is disrespectful, misonygyst and demeaning to women.

The full details of the fresh allegations against Russell Brand may not emerge for some time, one of the journalists investigating him has said.

Sunday Times media editor Rosamund Urwin emphasises that these fresh claims need checking which "takes a huge amount of work".

"They will not be published quickly, as we have to make sure we've done everything that we did on our previous sources as well," she tells BBC Breakfast.

Urwin says journalists have received a "huge number of leads" since the story was published on Saturday, including several women coming forward to also make allegations about Brand.

Yesterday, Foreign Secretary James Cleverly was on Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg and was asked about the allegations against Brand - which the comedian and actor has denied.

Cleverly said: “Those in power must "be better" at listening to the voices of the "relatively powerless".

Asked whether there were questions for the industry, Mr Cleverly replied: "Sadly, I think there are."

MPs are expected to push for answers from big institutions that were involved in Brand's career on the crucial questions of who knew what, and when.

More women have come forward with allegations about Russell Brand's behaviour, according to the Times, one of the media organisations which published the original allegations against him.

The newspaper says these fresh claims have not yet been investigated but "will now be rigorously checked" and did not provide any more details about them, other than that they related to Brand's behaviour since the "early 2000s".

Just a few hours after the allegations against Brand were made public on Saturday, he was onstage in London as part of his Bipolarisation tour.

Starting an hour late, a delay which Brand blamed on the traffic, he took to the stage saying, “There are obviously some things that I absolutely cannot talk about and I appreciate that you will understand” and asked his audience not to film.

“Before the show began, I was almost certain it would be cancelled,” our correspondent Chi Chi Izundu reported from Troubadour Wembley Park. But she added that Brand “appeared distracted” as the show went on.

He got a standing ovation at the end lasting a few minutes.

There are still three dates of the tour left, in Windsor tomorrow before its due to visit Plymouth and Wolverhampton.

Read more from Chi Chi and the Wembley performance here.

The police should begin to investigate Russell Brand given the "surprisingly detailed" nature of the claims against him, a media law expert has said.

"I think it's quite clear there are questions to be asked and answered," Mark Stephens tells BBC Breakfast, highlighting the text appearing to show Brand apologising to a woman who says he sexually assaulted her.

Noting the existence of corroborating evidence for the allegations like contemporary reports or medical records, Stephens says he believes it would be better for a criminal investigation to establish the truth.

He adds that police officers have powers that journalists do not have and argues a criminal inquiry would allow the woman accusing the actor of sexual assault or rape to report them to the authorities, or vindicate Brand's claims of innocence.

Several women have made allegations against Brand as part of the investigation by the Sunday Times, the Times and Channel 4’s Dispatches:

• One woman alleges that Brand raped her against a wall in his Los Angeles home. She was treated at a rape crisis centre on the same day. The Times says it has seen medical records to support this
• A second woman alleges that Brand assaulted her in the UK when he was in his early 30s and she was 16 and still at school. She alleges he referred to her as "the child" during an emotionally abusive and controlling relationship
• A third woman claims that Brand sexually assaulted her while she worked with him in Los Angeles, and that he threatened to take legal action if she told anyone else about her allegation
• The fourth woman alleged being sexually assaulted by Brand and him being physically and emotionally abusive towards her

Yesterday the BBC released a statement saying it was: "urgently looking into the issues raised" by the allegations made against Brand - who resigned from the corporation after a “serious editorial breach” in 2008.

“The documentary and associated reports contained serious allegations, spanning a number of years”, a spokesperson said. The Metropolitan Police also released a statement where they said they would speak to the Sunday Times and Channel 4 after their investigation.

Production company Banijay UK also released a statement saying it had launched an “urgent internal investigation” into “alleged serious misconduct of Russell Brand while presenting shows produced by Endemol in 2004 and 2005”.

Banijay UK bought Endemol in 2020., external

The women’s charity Trevi also cut ties with Brand yesterday, with the charity saying: “We have ended our association with Russell Brand and the Stay Free Foundation” and that the media revelations had been "difficult to process”.

Andrew Humphrey
Live reporter

Good morning and welcome to our live coverage after the comedian and actor Russell Brand was accused of rape, sexual assaults and emotional abuse during a seven year period at the height of his fame.

Four women are alleging sexual assaults between 2006 and 2013.

Brand has denied all the allegations against him, saying that his relationships have been “always consensual”.

Since the allegations - made in a joint investigation by the Sunday Times, the Times and Channel 4’s Dispatches - were made public, production company Banijay UK has launched an “urgent internal investigation” into “alleged serious misconduct of Russell Brand while presenting shows produced by Endemol in 2004 and 2005”. Banijay UK bought Endemol in 2020.

The women’s charity Trevi has also cut ties with Brand, saying it was “deeply saddened and upset” by the stories reported in Channel 4’s Dispatches programme.

I’m here with Ece Goksdef and Adam Durbin, stay with us as we bring you live updates and reaction throughout the day.