Comedian Katherine Ryan claims that she feels both “grief and relief” after Russell Brand was convicted of rape and sexual assault.
Katherine Ryan feels both “grief and relief” after Russell Brand was convicted of rape and sexual assault.
The 43-year-old comedian – who previously claimed in a 2022 BBC TV interview with Louis Theroux that there was a “predator” in the entertainment world – says there are “a lot of women speaking privately and quietly” following Thursday’s (05.11.26) verdict, which saw Brand found guilty of one charge of rape and three counts of sexual assault.
Discussing the guilty verdict on her Telling Everybody Everything podcast, Katherine said: “It really made me feel just quite dysregulated again, caught off-guard, emotional, in awe of the survivors who also had nothing to gain.
“They came forward despite Russell Brand having fame, power, money and a legion of fans ready to attack them.”
The Canadian star continued: “I will never be someone who like, dances on graves. There has been some justice done today. There’s a level of relief, but there’s a grief alongside relief.
“Everything’s nuanced, and it was proved in court that a terrible thing happened, and that means that a terrible thing happened.
“I just think again and again about people who have been hurt, and who have to carry that, who’ve carried that around long enough, and will continue to carry that in some way, regardless of what justice is done.”
Brand was told by judge Mr Justice Bennathan to expect “a significant custodial term” when he is sentenced on Monday (09.11.26) and Katherine has expressed concern about “what happens next” because the Get Him to the Greek star had “cultivated” the idea that accusations against him were “invented” by “the establishment”.
She said: “The verdict came because women were hurt, and I worry as well about what happens next.
“Because he’s obviously spent a long time cultivating this idea that the establishment have invented these claims against him, and he’s martyred himself to a growing audience who really still think that it is the courageous survivors who are the villains in this story.”
Meanwhile, adventurer Bear Grylls has defended his role in baptising Brand in the River Thames in 2024.
He posted on X: “Brand’s faith seemed genuine to me at the time when I was a guest at his private baptism.
“I have attended a few now. Even visiting in prisons with people who have committed terrible crimes. It’s part of our calling as men and women of faith, to love and serve anyone.
“It is the sick that need healing. Judgement is for the courts and God… I wouldn’t want to ever discourage someone’s coming to faith.”
Grylls added: “It is right that justice has been served.
“I can’t imagine how hard this time has been for the victims, the heroes of the day.”
Katherine Ryan feels a mixture of ‘grief and relief’ at Russell Brand guilty verdict
