Russell Brand’s former lover Georgina Baillie today declared that she does not believe he is rapist – but insisted his accusers must not all be written off as liars.
The granddaughter of Andrew Sachs, 38, who found herself at the centre of a media storm when Brand prank called the former Fawlty Towers star to brag about having sex with her, says she is taking some of the allegations he now faces ‘with a pinch of salt’.
Ms Baillie spoke out shortly after it was revealed the comedian turned wellness guru faces a police probe over claims he sexually assaulted a woman in London. He is also accused of raping a woman in LA, attacking two others and grooming a 16-year-old girl at the height of his fame.
She said last night: ‘From my own personal experience I do not see Russell as a rapist, however, the evidence is compelling so one has to keep an open mind. I’m not saying they are lies, it was a long time ago and they [the women] should be believed and get some help’.
Georgina spoke to Piers Morgan on his TalkTV show last night. Earlier she had revealed to MailOnline that Brand paid for her rehab in 2018 to make amends for what he had done to her.
When asked if she presumes he is guilty she said: ‘I wouldn’t say that. I’m taking it with a pinch of salt, maybe, for want of a better word’.
![Russell Brand 's former lover Georgina Baillie today insisted: ‘From my own personal experience I do not see Russell as a rapist' - but she says the women should be believed](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2023/09/19/07/75584461-12534245-image-m-10_1695104941552.jpg)
Russell Brand ‘s former lover Georgina Baillie today insisted: ‘From my own personal experience I do not see Russell as a rapist’ – but she says the women should be believed
![Ms Baillie revealed Russell Brand paid for her rehab as an amends for the 'Sachsgate' scandal](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2023/09/19/07/75584471-12534245-image-m-11_1695104950437.jpg)
Ms Baillie revealed Russell Brand paid for her rehab as an amends for the ‘Sachsgate’ scandal
![Ms Baillie revealed Russell Brand paid for her rehab as an amends for the 'Sachsgate' scandal (both pictured in 2008)](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2023/09/19/07/75585237-12534245-image-m-15_1695106743521.jpg)
![Ms Baillie revealed Russell Brand paid for her rehab as an amends for the 'Sachsgate' scandal (both pictured in 2008)](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2023/09/19/07/75585235-12534245-image-a-16_1695106748938.jpg)
Ms Baillie revealed Russell Brand paid for her rehab as an amends for the ‘Sachsgate’ scandal (both pictured in 2008)
![Grabs from a video filmed for a Radio 2 Podcast on The Russell Brand Show of Russell Brand and Jonathan Ross singing an apology to Andrew Sachs after repeatedly prank calling him](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2023/09/19/08/75585233-12534245-image-m-18_1695106800626.jpg)
Grabs from a video filmed for a Radio 2 Podcast on The Russell Brand Show of Russell Brand and Jonathan Ross singing an apology to Andrew Sachs after repeatedly prank calling him
She backed a police investigation into the claims and said: ‘Part of the recovery programme is that you should make amends for these things and that’s what he did to me and hopefully he’ll do the same for the others’.
She said she had not spoken to him since the scandal broke over the weekend.
‘All I have got is my own truth. I don’t know what I would say to him really. I feel like he was a different person during those time. He was young and stupid and so was I and things would be done differently now I think’, she said.
‘I want him to continue on his path of recovery and when he makes a mistake, make an amends, that is what we do’.
She also touched on the scandal involving her grandfather Mr Sachs. She said: ‘Slut shaming was totally fine back then and I was an easy target’.
Mr Sachs, who played Manuel in Fawlty Towers, was prank-called at home three times by Brand and Jonathan Ross in October 2008 and the two men left a series of messages for him.
These revolved around exposing a brief fling which Brand had enjoyed with Sachs’ granddaughter Georgina Baillie. In one of them Brand rhymed ‘menstrual’ with ‘consensual’. He joked that he wanted to marry her. Ross blurted out: ‘He f***ed your granddaughter!’
Georgina had a three-year relationship with Brand which led to the notorious ‘Sachsgate’ scandal.
She says it drove a wedge between her and her famous grandfather and their relationship never recovered after the prank call, which she blames for accelerating his decline into ill health.
Brand later resigned. Ross was suspended without pay from all BBC shows for a period of twelve weeks.
Speaking before the Piers Morgan show, Ms Baillie told MailOnline that Brand ‘is addicted to sex the way some people are addicted to drink and drugs’.
In an exclusive interview with MailOnline, Georgina, now 38, said: ‘My grandfather was horrified by that phone call, and he never really got over it. What happened broke our relationship.’
Speaking of the rape and sexual assault claims Brand now faces, Georgina said: ‘To be honest I haven’t seen the Dispatches programme yet, but I’ve heard snippets and I will watch it.
![Andrew Sachs' granddaughter Georgina Baillie (pictured) said today Russell Brand is 'addicted to sex'](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2023/09/18/21/75569409-12532789-image-a-10_1695068280705.jpg)
Andrew Sachs’ granddaughter Georgina Baillie (pictured) said today Russell Brand is ‘addicted to sex’
![Georgina had a three-year relationship with Brand, who she said never was inappropriate with her](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2023/09/18/21/75569461-12532789-image-a-11_1695068282570.jpg)
Georgina had a three-year relationship with Brand, who she said never was inappropriate with her
‘All I can say is that Russell never raped me, and he was never inappropriate with me.
‘But I think the problem is Russell was addicted to sex like some people are addicted to drink and drugs – I don’t think what he did was right, but he wasn’t well, he was addicted to sex.
‘He basically swapped a tonne of heroin for a load of girls who were throwing themselves at him and if he has done anything wrong, he needs to acknowledge it and make amends.
‘In situations like this you are going to have people coming forward and trying to make a name for themselves.
‘But there are also going to be people with a genuine complaint, and they need to come forward, I would encourage them to.’
Of claims that Brand ‘groomed’ a 16-year-old school girl, Georgina said: ‘If one of these complaints is 16, then that is a bit icky because he was 30 and that’s very thin ice, and I’m sure looking back on it now is probably very ashamed that he manipulated her.
‘I know he was getting so many offers from girls, and he quit heroin to directly replace it with girls, that was his new addiction.’
Georgina went on: ‘I think though he has changed now, he has children, daughters and that will have changed him.
‘I hope that if he did something wrong, he will look to make amends for anything that happened.
‘At the time I knew him it was a really wild period of my life my parents had just got divorced, I turned to drink and drugs and then met Russell through friends.
‘I wanted to have sex and it was a friend with benefits thing – we saw each other maybe no more than ten times ever and I was impressed by him.
‘I was 20 years old, I was a groupie and I remember watching him on Big Brother and thinking he was so fit, a friend had his number and I jumped on it but I wouldn’t do that now.’
![After the pair's relationship came the notorious 'Sachsgate' scandal when Brand left vulgar messages on Andrew Sach's (pictured) answer machine, bragging of his sex with Georgina](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2023/09/18/21/75569447-12532789-image-a-13_1695068358429.jpg)
After the pair’s relationship came the notorious ‘Sachsgate’ scandal when Brand left vulgar messages on Andrew Sach’s (pictured) answer machine, bragging of his sex with Georgina
Georgina says that while she doesn’t regret meeting Brand and that their sex was consensual, she does bitterly regret the fall out with her grandfather – who played Manuel in the 1970s classic comedy – that caused a bitter fallout lasting eight years.
She said Sachs was also furious that Georgina a former member of dance group The Satanic Sluts decided to kiss and tell about Brand.
‘I don’t regret meeting Russell; I was young and impressionable but what I do regret is the effect it had on the relationship with my grandfather,’ she said.
‘OK I was a bit wild at the time but the way I behaved really embarrassed him.
‘He and my grandmother were from a different era and here they were seeing what their granddaughter got up.
‘Granddad stopped talking to me because of what happened, and I didn’t see him for a long time, it must have been around eight years.
‘The first time I saw him was just before he died when he was suffering from dementia. I tried to repair the relationship with flowers and letters but he was understandably very angry.’
Georgina revealed it was Andrew’s wife, fellow actor Melody Sachs, who arranged the meeting at actors’ home Denville Hall, near Harrow shortly before he died in 2016 aged 86.
Blinking back tears the dancer now turned painter said: ‘Grandma was a very interesting lady, and she decided it was ok to speak with him again.
‘She allowed him to see me, and it was really lovely but afterwards she gave me a bollocking saying that I had put the family through a lot of shit.
‘She blamed me for what happened, I did get to say goodbye to my grandad, but I had no idea if he was lucid or not and knew who I was.
‘I apologised to him again for embarrassing him, I looked into his eyes and told him again how sorry I was for everything.
![Russell Brand leaves the Troubabour Wembley Park theatre in north-west London after performing a comedy set on Saturday](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2023/09/18/21/75568573-12532789-image-a-14_1695068756345.jpg)
Russell Brand leaves the Troubabour Wembley Park theatre in north-west London after performing a comedy set on Saturday
‘I think he heard me, I can’t be sure but there seemed to be still a little bit of him left in there.’
Georgina described for almost ten years after the Sachsgate scandal he life spiralled into a hedonistic world of drink and drugs – and at one point she herself was the victim of sex attack.
She said:’I went into a decade of addiction because of what happened, I was doing terrible things to get cocaine and I was drinking from the morning until the evening and I’m lucky to be alive.
‘I was really stupid; I didn’t think of the consequences and Russell made quite a bit of money afterwards because he used what happened on his subsequent Scandalized tour.
‘That hurt me, he wasn’t really seem to be taking it seriously and everyone was backing him and I was just a worthless whore but I know what it’s like to be a sex attack victim so if any woman has been attacked I encourage them to come forward.’
In 2018 Brand offered to pay for Georgina’s rehab after her addictions got the better of her and she had now been clean for almost four years.
She said: ‘He paid for my sixteen weeks treatment – I think it was his way of making amends for what he did.
‘We went into a room, and he just made a very real sincere apology to me for what happened, and I felt it was genuine and I was satisfied by that.
‘People may question why I don’t hate him more, but I can’t afford the luxury of resentments because it could trigger me back on to drink and drugs.
‘But I am there for any victim of sexual abuse because I have been there myself as I was hanging around with some seedy people who knew I would do anything for drugs.’
‘If there is anything I regret above all else it’s telling Russell who my grandfather was because it got involved him and I didn’t have to do that.’
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