FOR 15 years he was the toast of the airwaves and the comedy circuit and was feted in Hollywood for movies including Forgetting Sarah Marshall and Get Him To The Greek.
But Russell Brand’s increasingly bizarre conspiracy theories, online rants and political activism saw the former TV star go increasingly ‘off-grid’.
The comedian became a Hollywood star in Forgetting Sarah Marshall, with Kristen BellRex
RUMBLERussell in one of his controversial videos, Are We Being Silenced? at the time of the allegations.[/caption]
And the killer blow to his previously glittering career came after a string of sexual misconduct claims, published in September – with five women accusing him of rape, sexual assault and emotional abuse in an explosive investigation by the Times and Channel 4.
In December, the 48-year-old comedian was interviewed by Metropolitan police over “further” historic sex offences, a month after he was quizzed over the initial allegations.
Brand – who denies rape, assault and emotional abuse from 2006 to 2013 – saw ratings on his hugely profitable YouTube channel plummet and the platform suspended his revenue stream.
He was forced to cancel a string of sell-out comedy gigs in the wake of the scandal and was dropped by his agent.
But, incredibly, the disgraced comic – once estimated to be worth £15million – still earns £25K a WEEK.
Tanith Carey, Russell Brand’s first biographer, says: “Brand may no longer be welcome on primetime TV, but even before his mainstream career was torn apart by the allegations of rape and sexual assault, last September, he was concentrating on getting a cult following on alternative social media channels where he had more control.
“Brand now has a solid and devoted social media following, many of whom aren’t bothered at all by the sexual allegations – and who see them as part of the establishment’s conspiracy to silence him.
“Brand’s income may have taken a hit but he still has enough of an online community to keep the money coming in.
“He is finding re-branding himself as a serious revolutionary and a spiritual guru can also be lucrative.”
GettyBrand hosted the MTV awards at the height of his fame[/caption]
WireImage – GettyA brief marriage to superstar Katy Perry helped cement his status[/caption]
Antivaxx and pro-Russia
After shooting to fame on Big Brother’s Big Mouth, Brand was given his own show on Channel 4 and a primetime slot on Radio 2.
He went on to star in a host of movies including Rock of Ages and Despicable Me and his global brand was clinched when he wed pop superstar Katy Perry in 2010 – although the ill-fated marriage lasted just four months.
But online Brand, who has 6.7million followers on his channel, was a poster boy for the extreme Left, spouting revolutionary views and urging fans not to vote.
In recent years, his tone shifted to more radical conspiracy theories, with anti-vaxxing and COVID denial views, and he has been accused of spreading pro-Russian propaganda in the wake of Putin’s invasion of Ukraine, including unfounded claims of bioweapon labs in the country.
After YouTube removed one post on the grounds of medical misinformation, he moved to Rumble, where his loyal army of fans – who he calls Awakened Wonders – are still watching his daily conspiracy-driven rants in their hundreds of thousands.
But in an explosive Channel 4 documentary in September, the star was accused of sexual and emotional abuse by five women – four of whom were anonymous.
The revelations led to his agent, Angharad Wood, dropping him as advertisers and TV companies, who once clamoured to work with him, turned their backs.
ReutersRussell has not lost all his income[/caption]
£4m in profits
While many of his mainstream revenue streams have dried up and his chances of a comeback look slim, he is still sitting on a fortune after raking in millions in his heyday.
But much of his income is now dependent on the conspiracy theory and alt right community and ‘off-grid’ wellness activities.
His main TV production company, Pablo Diablo’s Legitimate Business Firm Ltd, is currently in £4,070,420 profit, and paid out over £2million in its last financial year.
He also owns two companies with wife Laura, 36, the sister of TV presenter Kirsty Gallagher, who he wed in 2017.
R&L Brand LLP has assets of £211,827, while their new firm Stay Free Media Ltd, set up in February 2022, has yet to file accounts.
In total, his fortune on paper in the UK stands at just under £4.2million.
But the couple have substantial outgoings after buying a £3.3million thatched mansion in Henley, Oxfordshire, in 2016, and The Crown Inn in nearby Pishill in December 2021, for £850,000.
The pub, which he had planned to turn into a vegan restaurant, has failed to open under his ownership and remains boarded up and fenced off.
But according to Companies House, his Pablo Diablo’s firm is saddled with two charges – or mortgages – at Barclays Bank, with the company’s millions being used as collateral against the pub.
Darren Fletcher – The SunHe married Laura in 2017[/caption]
ReutersThe pair own The Crown Inn which is now shut[/caption]
ReutersIt has been closed since they bought it[/caption]
£20k a week
His Rumble channel, watched on average by around 250,000 viewers, is now his main revenue stream.
With top Rumble creators earning £16 per 1,000 viewers, Brand is making £4,000 a show, produced five days a week – so up to £20,000 a week.
The content is predominantly conspiracy-led debate and Brand monologues with controversial guests such as discredited InfoWars host Alex Jones, who faces bankruptcy after being sued for £1.2 billion by the families of Sandy Hook victims for claiming the 2012 shooting – which took the lives of 20 children and six adults – was a hoax.
“Brand knows his new audience. His videos around the pandemic and vaccines are particularly popular,” says Tanith.
“He now has 1.79 million followers on Rumble, almost double what he had on the platform in March last year – and he can get at least 750,000 views on his most popular clips.”
The comic also charges £47 a year for exclusive content on his Awakened Wonders Community, on the online platform Locals. If 100 people sign up every week, that would amount to £4,700.
His Stay Free podcast produces no income, and his YouTube payments have been suspended.
The presenter’s shows and podcasts, including Bake Off, QI and Big Brother have been taken down from BBC and Channel 4 streaming services since the scandal broke.
Wellness guru
He and Laura – who share two daughters, aged seven and five – also run the Community wellness festival in July, with tickets between £160 and £210, with three price bands already sold out for 2024.
The three-day meditation and yoga event, in Hay-on-Wye, is registered at The Crown Inn and promises to be about “personal awakening and social change.”
The website boasts: “Russell Brand and friends will be back for 3 days of camping, conversation on spirituality, wellness, healthy living and our environment.
communitybyrussellbrand/instagramRussell leads a group in meditation[/caption]
“Limber up for yoga or Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, enjoy musical performances, relax with meditation and massage from a range of holistic healers on site.”
Pictures from the event, attended by 5,000 people, show children and babies taking part in activities, a young boy rolling around in the mud, and festival goers – including Brand – plunging into ice baths.
He is also seen leading a group in meditation and taking part in ritual dances led by guru Wim Hof.
The comedian – himself a former heroin addict – donates all profits to the couple’s charity the Stay Free Foundation, of which his wife is a trustee, which helps addicts in recovery.
The re-styling of himself as a spiritual guru resonates with fans of the comic, who previously toured a show called The Messiah Complex.
“Without an in-depth, in-person psychological diagnosis, it’s impossible to know for sure whether he really does have ‘a Messiah complex’ or he’s playing on this as part of his ‘guru’ comedy persona,” says Tanith.
“Brand certainly shows signs of grandiosity and has admitted himself in interviews he has narcissistic traits.
“But he is a master of reinvention. Part of his brand is as a recovered addict who wants to help others and live a spiritual life, full of yoga and meditation.
“This lifestyle also fits in this narrative about how big industries, like the food and pharmaceutical companies, are deliberately setting out to make people ill to make money out of them.”
While Brand denies all allegations of assault, saying he only took part in “consensual” sex, the Channel 4 and Times investigation means a return to the mainstream is off the cards.
Officers from a special police unit for “non-recent” sexual offences after the Jimmy Savile scandal have been working in tandem with Scotland Yard to investigate the allegations, The Times previously reported.
But, helped by his loyal followers, the brand of Brand continues to thrive.
“Brand still has more than 11 million followers on Twitter – around the same as he did when the sex abuse allegations surfaced. Guests – some of whom are experts in their fields – are still lining up to go on his shows,” says Tanith.
“His output remains prolific, with him sometimes putting out new podcast content every day.
“He knows the sexual abuse allegations fit with his audience’s belief that the mainstream media have their own agenda – and were always out to get him.
“Brand knows his followers – who he calls ‘his Awakened Wonders’ – are in the market for conspiracy theories so he had a ready-made response ready and waiting.
“If anything, I believe he will pride himself on building an off-grid, media empire – and showing it can be done – to cause the maximum disruption.”
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