In an Instagram post, the 48-year-old actor/comedian, who was previously accused of sexually harassing four women, shares that he's using it as an 'opportunity to leave the past behind.'
- Apr 29, 2024
AceShowbiz - Russell Brand revealed that he's going to be baptized. Making use of his Instagram account, the comedian, who was previously accused of sexually harassing four women, shared that he's using it as an "opportunity to leave the past behind."
"This Sunday, I'm taking the plunge. I'm getting baptized," the former husband of Katy Perry said in the video, which was shared on Friday, April 27. "What's been explained to me is, it's an opportunity to die and be reborn. An opportunity to leave the past behind and be reborn in Christ's name."
The "Rock of Ages" actor later added, "Like it says in Galatians: that you can live as an enlightened and awakened person." He also noted that the prospect of baptism was "so inviting and beautiful."
"People are so cynical about the increasing interest in Christianity and the return to God, but to me, it's obvious," he divulged. "As meaning deteriorates in the modern world, as our value systems and institutions crumble, all of us become increasingly aware that there is this eerily familiar awakening and beckoning figure that we've all known all of our lives, within us and around us. And for me it's very exciting."
Russell said that he initially wanted to get baptized in the River Thames, but scrapped the plan after discovering that it had high levels of E. coli. He joked, "I may be leaving behind the sins, but I might be picking up some pretty serious viruses."
The star's plan to get baptized came after he was accused of raping, sexually assaulting and abusing four women over the course of seven years. The "Forgetting Sarah Marshall" star admitted that he was "very, very promiscuous" in his past, but he insisted that all sexual interactions he had at the time were "absolutely always consensual."
"I was always transparent about that. Then, almost too transparent, and I'm being transparent about it now as well," the "Despicable Me 2" star added. "To see that transparency metastasized into something criminal that I absolutely deny makes me question, is there another agenda at play?"
He doubled down on his denial during an interview with Tucker Carlson. "Attacks like this, a crisis like this - hurtful as it is to be accused of what I consider to be the most appalling crime - to be accused of this is very, very painful and very hurtful," he said.
He added, "But I am being shown that there are consequences for the rather foolish way I lived in the past. Though of course, again, to reiterate, due to the nature of the world we live in, of course I deny any allegations of the kind that have been advanced."
