Russell Brand is a “seriously unwell sex addict”, Georgina Baillie, the woman at the centre of the Sachsgate scandal, has said following his conviction for rape and sexual assault.
Ms Baillie, now 41, said she felt “very sad and disappointed” after Brand was found guilty at Southwark Crown Court. She said he should acknowledge the harm caused to his victims and take steps to help them recover.
“Justice has been served,” she said. “Although he never raped or assaulted me, as I have always said, I didn’t know what happened in the privacy of the rooms that the victims and Russell were in and their evidence was compelling.”
Brand, 51, is due to face sentencing after a three-week trial in which jurors heard allegations about his conduct towards women over a decade between 1999 and 2009.
Georgina Baillie on Russell Brand’s sex addiction
Ms Baillie said her own relationship with Brand had been consensual and lasted on and off for about two years. But she believes his behaviour reflected an addiction.
“Russell Brand is a sex addict. It’s obvious to me. That boy is seriously unwell,” she said.
Ms Baillie, who has spoken about her own recovery from drink and drug addiction, said she had learned about “cross-addiction” – replacing one dependency with another behaviour.
She stressed that describing Brand as a sex addict did not excuse the offences of which he has been found guilty. “He’s been found guilty. He needs to make the amends,” she said, adding that acknowledging what happened should be the first step.
She also urged Brand to use his resources to help the women who gave evidence against him, saying she wanted them to receive support and have the opportunity to rebuild their lives.
Ms Baillie said Brand had once apologised to her and paid tens of thousands of pounds towards therapy and medical expenses. He also paid for her to attend a rehabilitation centre in Staffordshire in 2018, where she spent six months.
She later relapsed, but said she has now been free from drink and drugs for six years. She works as an artist and presents a podcast about addiction.
The lasting impact of Sachsgate
Ms Baillie was 21 and performing with a gothic burlesque troupe when she became involved with Brand. In 2008, he and Jonathan Ross, then his fellow BBC Radio 2 presenter, left messages for her grandfather, the actor Andrew Sachs, during a broadcast.
The messages referred to Brand’s sexual relationship with Ms Baillie. The programme had been recorded, but was broadcast without being flagged to senior BBC editors, triggering a national scandal.
Brand resigned, along with Radio 2 controller Lesley Douglas and the BBC’s head of compliance, Dave Barber. Ross was suspended without pay for three months, while the BBC was fined £150,000 by Ofcom, which described the broadcast as “gratuitously offensive, humiliating and demeaning”.
Ms Baillie said the episode had a profound effect on her relationship with Sachs, best known for playing Manuel in Fawlty Towers. She said she did not see or speak to her grandparents for eight years afterwards.
“They were slut shaming,” she said. “It was bullying towards my grandfather. Regardless of if I’m the biggest whore in the whole world, it doesn’t matter. It’s still bullying.”
She said the scandal contributed to years of drinking, drug use and what she described as a damaging attitude towards sex. “I was a really lost little girl and then I just said yes to everything,” she said.
Ms Baillie was eventually reunited with Sachs in December 2016, when he was in the late stages of dementia. She apologised for her part in the scandal, although she said she could never know whether he fully understood what she had told him. Sachs died shortly afterwards, aged 86, while her grandmother died the following year.
Ms Baillie also provided a statement for Brand’s defence during his trial after being asked about their relationship. She said she had told lawyers that he had never done anything to her that she considered non-consensual, while making clear that she could speak only about her own experience.
“I had to tell the truth, which was no,” she said. “All I’ve got is my experience.”
Despite the damage caused by Sachsgate, Ms Baillie said she did not regret her relationship with Brand. She said they had initially been seeing each other mainly for sex and that she knew he was involved with other women.
She now hopes Brand will show his victims the same willingness to make amends that he once showed her. “Owning up would be the first part of the amends,” she said, “and the second part would be whatever measures are necessary to put these girls back together.”
