LONDON — British comedian and actor Russell Brand arrived at a London court on Monday for the start of his trial on multiple charges of rape and sexual assault.
Once a left-wing personality and comedian who shot to fame as a television and radio presenter, he has rebranded himself as a conservative guru for millions of social media followers.
Brand, 51, arrived at Southwark Crown Court in the British capital with his wife, Laura, wearing a grey suit and sunglasses.
He faces seven sexual offense charges pertaining to six women, allegedly dated between 1999 and 2009.
He has pleaded not guilty to all the charges — three counts of rape, three of sexual assault and one charge of indecent assault.
Brand sat in the dock at the central London court, where the press benches were packed, an AFP journalist saw.
Jury selection was due to begin on Monday and the trial was expected to last around 10 weeks.
Born in 1975 to working-class parents in Essex, east of London, Brand began his stand-up career as a teenager, eventually working as an MTV presenter and host of a reality TV series.
He presented a show on the BBC's Radio 2 station between 2006 and 2008 but quit after an lewd, on-air prank when he left a sexually explicit voicemail for "Fawlty Towers" actor Andrew Sachs about his granddaughter.
Brand then made a foray into Hollywood and was in a brief, but high-profile, marriage to US pop star Katy Perry.
