Entertainment
Andrew Sachs’ granddaughter reveals Russell Brand paid for her rehab as apology for ‘Sachsgate’ scandal-Emily Bashforth-Entertainment – Metro
Georgina Baillie felt Brand’s apology was ‘genuine’.
Andrew Sachs’ granddaughter has spoken out on the allegations against Russell Brand (Picture: TalkTV/REX)
Georgina Baillie has broken her silence on ‘Sachsgate’ involving Russell Brand and Jonathan Ross in a new interview with Piers Morgan.
Appearing on TalkTV’s Uncensored, Baillie’s interview aired as Brand, 48, finds himself at the centre of several serious allegations from women accusing him of rape, sexual assault, and predatory behaviour over a seven-year period at the height of his fame.
Baillie first made press in 2008 when she was in a relationship with Brand, which she has now clarified was more of a ‘friends with benefits’ arrangement. At the time, she was 20 and he was 30.
Years later, Brand was sacked from his BBC Radio 2 show after thousands of complaints flooded in following a pre-recorded interview with talk show host Ross, 62.
During the episode, Brand and Ross phoned late Fawlty Towers actor Andrew Sachs and left crude messages on his voicemail. It was in these messages that Brand boasted about having a relationship with Sachs’ granddaughter Baillie.
Addressing the fallout for the first time, Baillie – who now works as an artist – revealed that Brand paid for her rehab to help her recover from addiction.
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The Get Him to the Greek actor has been accused of rape and assault by several women (Picture: Carl Court/Getty Images)
He also apologised to her personally for putting intimate details of their ‘private’ relationship out into the public domain.
Explaining that Brand was ‘nice’ to her when they were together, Baillie said nothing ‘untoward’ ever happened.
‘I was struggling with addiction for about 10, 15 years, and I was finding it very hard to get clean and sober.
‘One of my mutual friends between me and Russell called him up and said, “Georgie needs some help”, and so he sent me to rehab and I was physically separated from my drug of choice and I got some therapy, and I think that had a big part to play in my recovery journey.
‘He looked me in the eyes and he made amends with me, which is what we do in recovery, we have to make amends with people.’
Sachs received a shocking voicemail from Brand and Jonathan Ross in 2008 with a crude comment (Picture: Ben Pruchnie/Getty Images)
Thousands of complaints flooded in, with Brand sacked from BBC Radio 2 as a result (Picture: Richard Ainsworth)
When probed by Morgan on what Brand said to her, Baillie responded: ‘He just acknowledged that it was a private relationship and it shouldn’t have been made public and that, at the time, he had two daughters, and I think that it really made him grow and change, and I felt it was genuine and that he was sorry.’
This happened in 2018.
Baillie was then asked what her reaction was to the shocking claims made against Brand, with one woman claiming he ‘shoved his penis down her throat’ and abused her when she was just 16 and he was in his thirties.
‘Initially, first of all, I have been a survivor of sexual abuse and I will always believe victims because, why wouldn’t you?’, she said.
‘I wasn’t in the room. We don’t know what happened there. But, my initial thought was, “Oh my God, I’m glad I’m not Russell”, because it’s behaviour that he was doing when he wasn’t well,’ she continued.
‘So, when you’re an addict you can cross-addict. If you’re not working a program – he explained this to me when making amends – you can be off booze and drugs, but acting out on a sex addiction or a food addiction, and he wasn’t working a program and, as an addict in recovery, I know that he wasn’t well.’
Baillie spoke to Piers Morgan about how Brand apologised to her (Picture: TalkTV)
She has not spoken to Brand since the allegations were made public (Picture: TalkTV)
Morgan then reminded her that this ‘doesn’t justify rape and sexual assault’, if that is what he did.
‘It does not,’ Baillie assured, adding that she does not recognise the person ‘described in the reports’.
‘I don’t, but I’m not saying that they’re lies because it was a long time ago, and I think they should be believed and get some help, and that’s part of the recovery process, you make amends, and that’s what he did to me and I hope that he’ll do the same to the others.’
She then said she’s taking the allegations with ‘a pinch of salt’ as she agreed it was right for the police to now investigate.
Baillie has not spoken to Brand since the allegations were made publicly.
Uncensored airs on TalkTV.
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