A woman who has accused Russell Brand of sexually assaulting her on the set of ‘Arthur’ felt “used and abused” by him.
An unnamed female actress filed a civil lawsuit against the actor – who was recently hit by a string of allegations of rape, assault and emotional abuse between 2006 and 2013, following a joint investigation by the Times, the Sunday Times and the investigative TV show ‘Dispatches’ – in New York on Friday, in which she accused the 48-year-old comic of exposing himself to her in full view of the cast and crew of the comedy in 2010 before later entering the toilets she was in and allegedly assaulted her “as a member of the production crew guarded the door from outside”.
And now the woman – who is also taking legal action against Warner Bros. and other companies involved in producing the film – has spoken out about her lawsuit.
She told the Sunday Times newspaper: “I felt used and abused. Disgusting is the only word. I felt like I was being used, that I was just an object for his momentary titillation.”
The accuser claimed there was a power imbalance on the set and suggested nothing would have happened if she’d made a formal complaint at the time.
She said: “Everyone usually turns a blind eye to bad behaviour on a set.
“If I had come forward and said something to, say, even a production assistant on the set, what are they going to do? Are they going to fire Russell Brand or are they going to fire me?
“I [would] lose the work for the rest of the day or get fired. Are they going to fire him? No … they’re not going to want to get rid of him. I think that’s why everyone turned a blind eye to his behaviour [generally], because everybody was benefiting from it, everybody was getting work from it. No one would want to tarnish him — they would tarnish me because they would look at me like I’m a troublemaker.”
The woman claimed she was initially booked for three days work but following the alleged incidents, she wasn’t brought back for the subsequent days and only got paid for a single day.
In her legal filing, the extra said she finds it “difficult to trust others” as a result of the alleged assault and “suffered and continues to suffer extreme embarrassment, shame and fear”, but she hopes to find strength in speaking out now and wants to encourage other women to come forward.
She said: “I am trying to get my power back by speaking up about it.
“And if there are other people who have had something like this happen, I want to help them have the courage to come forward too. Because, honestly, that’s what gave me the strength to do this — when I read the whole [Sunday Times and Times] investigation and I read about the other women’s allegations.
“Alone, I don’t think I would have felt able to. Hopefully when other women see another woman putting what happened to her out there, they will find the strength deep inside themselves to speak out.”
Brand celebrated 20 years of sobriety at the end of last year but the lawsuit alleged he “appeared intoxicated”, smelt “of alcohol” and was “carrying a bottle of vodka on set”.
The ‘Get Him to the Greek’ star has denied the previous allegations against him and has yet to speak on the latest claims.
