Russell Brand has given evidence at his trial at Southwark Crown Court in London and denied every charge against him, BBC News, ABC News and The Guardian report. He spent more than four hours in the witness box on Wednesday, The Guardian reports.

Brand, 51, faces three counts of rape, three counts of sexual assault and one count of attempted indecent assault. Six women have accused him of offenses between 1999 and 2009. He denies all the charges. As his lawyer, Ian Winter, read through each charge, Brand answered "no."

"Consent is fundamental, essential, necessary and indeed in many ways more important than sex itself," Brand said.

He said the allegations had a "devastating" effect on his life, with friends and colleagues cutting ties. He said no friend or acquaintance had agreed to give evidence for him. "My entire life has been consumed by these allegations," he said.

Brand said he had once been "comfortable" letting his fame "facilitate sexual access, which I agree with you was wrong." He said he had been obsessed with sex as a younger man, but denied setting a goal of sleeping with 5,000 women.

Prosecutor Riel Karmy-Jones pointed to differences between Brand's earlier police statement and his evidence in court. Brand agreed there were "small details that are inconsistent." Karmy-Jones accused him of building his account around the evidence. Earlier in the trial, she called him "a sexual predator," ABC News reports.

Brand also said that after a 2023 Channel 4 documentary and newspaper reports, he was barred from staying with his baby son at Great Ormond Street Hospital during heart surgery. He blamed the media for his fall from public life.

Brand arrived at court with his wife, Laura Gallacher. "Today is the day for truth and justice," he said, ABC News reports.

What we know: Brand has testified in his own defense and denied all seven charges.
What we don't: When the jury will begin deliberating, and what verdict it will reach.