Comedian Russell Brand admits sleeping with 16-year-old when he was 30

Controversial British comedian and actor Russell Brand has admitted to having sex with a 16-year-old when he was 30.

The admission was made during an interview on The Megyn Kelly Show, with Brand making sure to note that the age of consent in the United Kingdom is 16.

The Forgetting Sarah Marshall star said he knew that sleeping with someone so much younger than him was “exploitative” but that he was a “very different” person at the time.

“In Europe and in the United Kingdom where I am from, the age of consent is 16, and I did sleep with a 16-year-old when I was 30,” he said.

“But when I was 30, I was a very different person. I was a lot younger, and I was an immature 30-year-old.”

The 50-year-old went on to talk about how he now thinks many of his sexual encounters in the past were exploitative due to the imbalanced power dynamic created by his fame.

“Consensual sex, actually, with a variety of people when there is a strong power differential, is when you’re a famous man that has the ability to attract women that I had at that time, I think, involves exploitation,” he said.

“I recognise that my sexual conduct in the past was selfish and I did not apply enough consideration, barely any I suppose, really, to how that sex was affecting other people.”

Brand said his fame gave him opportunity for “endless consent”.

“Which led me to be a hedonist and a fool, and an exploiter of women, and that is wrong. And that is something that needs to be redeemed and addressed and atoned for,” he said.

Last year Brand was charged with rape, sexual assault and indecent assault relating to four separate women between 1999 and 2005.

In December, two other women accused Brand of rape and a sexual assaults alleged to have taken place in 2009.

Brand has pleaded not guilty to all charges.

Brand is reportedly due to stand trial at London’s Southwark Crown Court on October 12.