Bear Grylls Defends Russell Brand's Faith After Assault Conviction

Grylls breaks his silence on the baptism

Two days after a London jury found Russell Brand guilty of rape and three counts of sexual assault, the man who helped baptize him spoke up for the first time. Bear Grylls, the survival-show host who stood beside Brand in the River Thames in April 2024, posted on X that Brand's conversion had looked real to him at the time.

"Brand's faith seemed genuine to me at the time when I was a guest at his private baptism," Grylls wrote, according to ChurchLeaders.

Grylls said this is not the first time he has stood by someone with a dark past. "I have attended a few now. Even visiting in prisons with people who have committed terrible crimes," he wrote. "It's part of our calling as men and women of faith, to love and serve anyone. It is the sick that need healing."

He also drew a hard line between faith and the law. "Judgement is for the courts and God... I wouldn't want to ever discourage someone's coming to faith," Grylls wrote, adding separately that "It is right that justice has now been served," according to RadarOnline. He closed by addressing Brand's victims directly, calling them "the heroes of the day," per Yahoo's report of the post.

How the case got to this point

Brand, now 51, was baptized in the River Thames near Henley-on-Thames, Oxfordshire, in April 2024 — months after sexual misconduct allegations against him first surfaced through a joint Channel 4 Dispatches investigation, according to RadarOnline. He shared a photo of the ceremony to Instagram on May 8, 2024, writing, "Me, Bear Grylls, The River Thames and of course, The Holy Spirit."

The criminal case moved separately. Six women testified against Brand over a four-week trial at Southwark Crown Court. On November 5, 2026, a jury convicted him of one count of rape and three counts of sexual assault involving four women, and acquitted him of two further rape charges and one charge of attempted indecent assault. He was taken into custody that day, having been free on bail throughout the trial.

On November 9, Judge Joel Bennathan sentenced Brand to ten years and six months in prison. "The total sentence is one of ten years, six months," the judge said, handing down the sentence on camera, according to NPR.

"Brand's faith seemed genuine to me at the time when I was a guest at his private baptism," — Bear Grylls

Who's involved

Russell Brand, 51, is the British comedian and actor at the center of the case — a former MTV host and stand-up who later built a following online as a conspiracy theorist and Christian convert. His wife, Laura, and his father were both in court for sentencing.

The four women Brand was convicted of assaulting have not been publicly named; the trial was not televised and one testified from behind a curtain. Judge Joel Bennathan presided over the trial and sentencing at Southwark Crown Court.

Bear Grylls, 52, the television survivalist, met Brand in 2023 when Brand appeared on his show Running Wild. He has previously called helping with the baptism a "privilege," telling the Daily Mail at the time that "it is a privilege to stand beside anyone when they express a humble need for forgiveness and strength from above."

Separately, the Metropolitan Police said detectives gathered evidence from more than 100 witnesses and reviewed thousands of documents during the investigation, according to RadarOnline. Police are also investigating two further rape allegations against Brand involving separate women; those allegations remain under investigation and have not led to charges.

What the court record shows

The jury convicted Brand of raping a woman he met at one of his shows in 2009, in an assault at his home, and of sexually assaulting three other women between 2004 and 2009 — one at a bar, one at a radio station and one at a television studio. He was acquitted of two additional rape charges and one count of attempted indecent assault.

At sentencing, prosecutors pointed to an aggravating factor in the rape count: that Brand had removed a condom during the assault, according to NPR. The defense argued for leniency, telling the court Brand was "a fundamentally different person" from who he was at the time of the offenses, also per NPR.

In his sentencing remarks, the judge said Brand had become "a sexual predator" and paused "to pay tribute to the determination and bravery" of the women who came forward, NPR reported. During the trial itself, prosecutors had described Brand as a ruthless, calculating and manipulative "sexual predator," according to Yahoo's report on the case.

The victims, in their own words

Before sentencing, four of the women Brand was convicted of assaulting gave victim impact statements to the court — three read by the prosecution, one delivered in person from behind a curtain.

The woman Brand was found guilty of raping said, "It's something I carry with me every day and it often feels never-ending." She added, "I doubt my ability to make good decisions and no longer trust my instinct in the way I did," telling the court she had not reported the assault sooner because she didn't think she'd be believed given Brand's fame, according to NPR.

The woman Brand assaulted at a bar in 2004 said the confusion over what she "should" or "could" do had stayed with her for more than 20 years, and that she felt "physically sick" seeing Brand's fame rise in the press afterward. Another woman, assaulted in 2005, said the attack had "a lasting impact on her life" and that "hearing his voice on television or seeing his image has made me jump," per NPR.

What happens next

The sentence Brand received on November 9 is final as reported; the coverage does not mention a scheduled appeal. The open thread is separate: London's Metropolitan Police are still investigating two further rape allegations against Brand made by other women. Those allegations have not resulted in charges, and no timeline for that investigation has been reported.