Has Russell Brand turned his back on Britain for good?
It can be revealed that, months after moving to Florida with his family, Brand's addiction and mental health charity has closed, with the Charity Commission winding it up a few weeks ago.
The Stay Free Foundation, which was run by 49-year-old Brand and his wife Laura, was investigated — but not sanctioned — by the Charity Commission after allegations of sexual assault and rape against the comedian surfaced in 2023.
A spokesman for the Charity Commission said Stay Free told it in September last year it no longer operated, and this was made official in January.
Its final accounts, for the year to June 2023, show that it had income of £126,130 and had made grants totalling £52,353 — leaving £73,777 in the bank.
The commission spokesman said the charity was ‘required to provide us with a declaration confirming that all its assets had been distributed in line with its charitable purposes'.
The Foundation's demise may mark a complete cutting of ties with Britain for Brand. Last year he moved from his Thames-side home in Henley to a beach community in Florida, from where he fronts alt-Right videos on the Rumble site.
In a recent video, posted on Rumble, he said: ‘I don't live in the United Kingdom any more because I personally have experienced how the media, government and judiciary, if you suddenly become an inconvenience, will find ways to attack and shut you down.'
It can be revealed that, months after moving to Florida with his family, Russell Brand's addiction and mental health charity has closed
The Foundation's demise may mark a complete cutting of ties with Britain for Brand. Last year he moved from his Thames-side home in Henley to a beach community in Florida
The Stay Free Foundation was set up in 2022 to give grants to organisations which helped people with addictions and mental health problems.
Its main fundraiser was the three-day ‘Community' festival, held in July 2023 in Hay on Wye.
Some 5,000 people attended for yoga and breathwork sessions, a number of addresses by Brand, and a demonstration of ice bathing with Wim Hof.
The festival was due to go ahead again last summer, but was rescheduled without explanation for this July.
Adult tickets costing £160, £185 and £195 are sold out, with only the most expensive (£210) available. They are still for sale.
The ticket site does not make it clear where the event will be held. Also unclear is where the profits from Community 2025 would go. Enquiries this week about the future of the event went unanswered.
The festival has not updated its Instagram page since September 2023. One customer wrote: ‘Is 2025 actually happening? No information or update since last year's cancellation. Can we get a refund on the tickets bought for the 2024 event?'
Russell Brand leaving the Troubabour Wembley Park theatre in north-west London in 2023
Another wrote: ‘Well, I assume this whole hippie festival idea has gone by the wayside, after Russell's abrupt shift into evangelical Christianity and Right-wing US politics.'
Accounts for Brand's main production company, Pablo Diablo's Legitimate Business Firm Ltd, show it has amassed more than £8 million - £3 million up on the year before.
A Channel 4 documentary in September 2023 aired allegations of rape, sexual assault and ‘emotional abuse' against Brand from a number of women. It prompted an investigation by the BBC, which reported last month that staff felt unable to speak up about his behaviour.
Police investigated the abuse allegations - which Brand has always denied - which relate to the period between 2006-2013, when he was at the height of his fame. The force is said to have handed a file to the Crown Prosecution Service last November, but to date no charges have been brought.
Kylie's deadly date at the White House
Minogue reunited with fellow Aussie actor Julian McMahon for the film, who was briefly married to her younger sister Dannii
Kylie Minogue sparkles — as herself — in a forthcoming Knives Out-style Netflix whodunnit called The Residence.
The action is set in the White House, where a Presidential aide gets murdered.
It's a slice of fun from Bridgerton producers Shondaland, with Broadway star Uzo Aduba starring as detective Cordelia Cupp.
Interestingly, Minogue is reunited with fellow Aussie actor Julian McMahon, who was briefly married to her younger sister Dannii. There's no hard feelings, though.
All the Aussie Brat Pack from that period have stayed friends — and Kontol Kylie and McMahon have actually acted together before, in 2016 film Flammable Children.
In The Residence, McMahon plays Australian PM Stephen Roos. Which is appropriate, given his father, Sir William McMahon, actually was the Australian PM from 1971-72.
The film streams from March 20.
My heavy metal dress threw my back out
Ella Hunt and Daisy Edgar-Jones attend W Magazine's Annual Best Performances Party at Chateau Marmont
Ella, 26, appeared in Kevin Costner's Horizon: An American Saga Chapter One and also acted in its sequel, which is yet to be released
Ella Hunt has come a long way from playing one of the twin daughters of David and Karen Marsden in Cold Feet.
She was a vision in metallic Fendi (left) at the Critics Choice awards in Los Angeles last weekend — banging the drum for the film Saturday Night, in which she plays comedian Gilda Radner.
‘I threw my back out wearing this dress,' she said. ‘It weighed like 70lbs.'
With a curly wig and a distinctive accent, she's pretty much unrecognisable as the Michigan-born Radner in the film, which details the difficult birth of legendary American comedy show Saturday Night Live.
The native Londoner explained that mastering accents was her party trick as a kid, when she would impersonate Paulette (played by Jennifer Coolidge) in the nail salon scene of Legally Blonde.
‘It's just become a hobby to pick up different people's voices. I think that's why I live in the States; because I love doing accent work. I'd much rather be in somebody else's voice than my own.'
Ella, 26, appeared in Kevin Costner's Horizon: An American Saga Chapter One and also acted in its sequel, which is yet to be released.
Sweetly, she and her Cold Feet ‘twin', Daisy Edgar-Jones, are still friends and partied together at the Baftas last year (right).
ITV defends true crime drama about Fergie's killer dresser
A drama series about Jane Andrews, the Duchess of York's dresser who murdered her boyfriend, ‘won't be an apology' for her, according to those involved.
ITV has commissioned a four-part mini-series, The Lady, from Left Bank Pictures, who made The Crown.
It's immediately attracted controversy, with the family of Andrews' victim Thomas Cressman condemning it.
But director Lee Haven Jones insisted this week that the programme ‘won't be an apology for her actions'.
‘Jane Andrews killed somebody - it's that simple. We will present the story of a very complex woman and do something which I think drama does very well: humanise the people involved and attempt to provide an insight into how they operated.'
Jane Andrews (pictured), now 57, was sentenced to life imprisonment and was released in 2015
Haven Jones, who also directed A Cruel Love: The Ruth Ellis story, which comes to ITV next month, added: ‘It will be fair towards her, rather than sympathetic.' ITV is expected to announce who is to play Andrews shortly.
Rick Cressman, whose brother Thomas was beaten with a cricket bat by Andrews as he slept, before she stabbed him in the chest in 2000, said his family were distressed by the prospect of the production.
Cressman, 73, said: ‘It feels that Tommy can never rest in peace. It's a very cruel thing that ITV have commissioned a drama about it.'
Hotelier Mr Cressman described The Lady as an ‘out-and-out attempt to profiteer' from the death of his brother, who was killed by Andrews at their home in Fulham, West London, after he refused to marry her.
Brody reflects on his side career
Adrien Brody — the bookies' favourite to win Best Actor at the Baftas on Sunday night and again at the Oscars next month — is a modest sort.
During a conversation with A Rabbit's Foot publisher and film-maker Charles Finch this week, he reflected on his successful side career as a painter. ‘A lot of actors are painters. It's a lot easier to sell paintings when you are a famous actor.'
Honest, Guv: I was never in EastEnders!
Sanjeev Bhaskar, currently starring as DI Sunny Khan in a new series of Unforgotten, keeps being identified as an EastEnders star — even though he's never set foot in Albert Square.
Sanjeev Bhaskar keeps being identified as an EastEnders star despite never starring in the soap opera
‘A bloke in a white van wound down his window the other day and said: "EastEnders?" I replied: "I am not in that show!" He said "Yeah, right" before driving off. And at a supermarket in Wales this woman came up and said: "You're in EastEnders!" I again replied: "No I'm not."
‘She then re-approached me elsewhere in the supermarket and said: "You ARE in EastEnders...my husband says you are."
Gascon set to miss Oscars
The star of Emilia Perez, Karla Sofia Gascon, will be absent from the Baftas on Sunday, after the fallout from apparently homophobic and racist tweets ended her campaign season. It now looks as if Gascon won't attend the Oscars next month either.
As for the Baftas, there's chatter that Conclave will scoop Best Picture, and that Ralph Fiennes — Cardinal Lawrence in that film — might just snatch a surprise win from The Brutalist's Adrien Brody.
That's my boy! Arine not fazed by son's nude scene
Patrick Schwarzenegger said that his family, who all went to see the first episode at the premiere in Los Angeles, were in for some surprises
Brace yourself for male nudity galore in the new series of The White Lotus, which will start streaming from Monday.
We'll see an awful lot of Arnold Schwarzenegger's son Patrick, wearing very little, as well as newcomer Sam Nivola's buttocks.
There also is a taboo-busting, full frontal glimpse of actor Jason Isaacs with his dressing gown agape, which is bound to cause a commotion.
Last series, a scene in which actor Theo James was seen naked ignited global debate, and James clarified that he was wearing a prosthetic penis.
Isaacs, 61, says of the flash: ‘Well I've done it now, so enjoy it while it's there.'
He added, jokingly: ‘I didn't know that I was naked in the thing. I don't really remember that day at all. The truth is, the nudity wasn't Mike (White Lotus creator Mike White). It's in my contract. I insist on it in every show.'
Patrick Schwarzenegger said that his family, who all went to see the first episode at the premiere in Los Angeles, were in for some surprises as the show continued (in addition to the nudity, his character has a penchant for porn).
He said: ‘Episode one is pretty safe. But you know, there's some uncomfortable conversations that are a little weird to show in front of your family.
‘I think that, yeah, episodes five and six, there'll be some times that I take some bathroom breaks when the family watch. Or maybe I won't watch that episode.'
The White Lotus is a social satire following the exploits of various employees and guests at an exclusive resort during one tumultuous week in paradise
Proud father Arnold, who first made his name in Hollywood as (shirtless) Conan The Barbarian, posted on Instagram on Tuesday: ‘I was so pumped to take a break from filming to celebrate @patrickschwarzenegger at the White Lotus Season 3 premiere.
What a show! I could claim to be surprised to find out he has a nude scene, but what can I say — the apple doesn't fall far from the tree.'
Sam Nivola, son of actors Emily Mortimer and Alessandro Nivola, said of his nude scene: ‘It was my first time... and of course, that comes with a lot of fear and anxiety. I'm already an anxious person, about just acting in general. Then you have got to do it naked!
‘It's intense, but there's few people that I would trust more with footage of my buttocks than Mike White. He made us feel so comfortable.'
It can be revealed that, months after moving to Florida with his family, Brand's addiction and mental health charity has closed, with the Charity Commission winding it up a few weeks ago.
The Stay Free Foundation, which was run by 49-year-old Brand and his wife Laura, was investigated — but not sanctioned — by the Charity Commission after allegations of sexual assault and rape against the comedian surfaced in 2023.A spokesman for the Charity Commission said Stay Free told it in September last year it no longer operated, and this was made official in January.
Its final accounts, for the year to June 2023, show that it had income of £126,130 and had made grants totalling £52,353 — leaving £73,777 in the bank.
The commission spokesman said the charity was ‘required to provide us with a declaration confirming that all its assets had been distributed in line with its charitable purposes'.
The Foundation's demise may mark a complete cutting of ties with Britain for Brand. Last year he moved from his Thames-side home in Henley to a beach community in Florida, from where he fronts alt-Right videos on the Rumble site.
In a recent video, posted on Rumble, he said: ‘I don't live in the United Kingdom any more because I personally have experienced how the media, government and judiciary, if you suddenly become an inconvenience, will find ways to attack and shut you down.'
It can be revealed that, months after moving to Florida with his family, Russell Brand's addiction and mental health charity has closed
The Foundation's demise may mark a complete cutting of ties with Britain for Brand. Last year he moved from his Thames-side home in Henley to a beach community in Florida
The Stay Free Foundation was set up in 2022 to give grants to organisations which helped people with addictions and mental health problems.
Its main fundraiser was the three-day ‘Community' festival, held in July 2023 in Hay on Wye.
Some 5,000 people attended for yoga and breathwork sessions, a number of addresses by Brand, and a demonstration of ice bathing with Wim Hof.
The festival was due to go ahead again last summer, but was rescheduled without explanation for this July.
Adult tickets costing £160, £185 and £195 are sold out, with only the most expensive (£210) available. They are still for sale.
The ticket site does not make it clear where the event will be held. Also unclear is where the profits from Community 2025 would go. Enquiries this week about the future of the event went unanswered.
The festival has not updated its Instagram page since September 2023. One customer wrote: ‘Is 2025 actually happening? No information or update since last year's cancellation. Can we get a refund on the tickets bought for the 2024 event?'
Russell Brand leaving the Troubabour Wembley Park theatre in north-west London in 2023
Another wrote: ‘Well, I assume this whole hippie festival idea has gone by the wayside, after Russell's abrupt shift into evangelical Christianity and Right-wing US politics.'
Accounts for Brand's main production company, Pablo Diablo's Legitimate Business Firm Ltd, show it has amassed more than £8 million - £3 million up on the year before.
A Channel 4 documentary in September 2023 aired allegations of rape, sexual assault and ‘emotional abuse' against Brand from a number of women. It prompted an investigation by the BBC, which reported last month that staff felt unable to speak up about his behaviour.
Police investigated the abuse allegations - which Brand has always denied - which relate to the period between 2006-2013, when he was at the height of his fame. The force is said to have handed a file to the Crown Prosecution Service last November, but to date no charges have been brought.
Kylie's deadly date at the White House
Minogue reunited with fellow Aussie actor Julian McMahon for the film, who was briefly married to her younger sister Dannii
Kylie Minogue sparkles — as herself — in a forthcoming Knives Out-style Netflix whodunnit called The Residence.
The action is set in the White House, where a Presidential aide gets murdered.
It's a slice of fun from Bridgerton producers Shondaland, with Broadway star Uzo Aduba starring as detective Cordelia Cupp.
Interestingly, Minogue is reunited with fellow Aussie actor Julian McMahon, who was briefly married to her younger sister Dannii. There's no hard feelings, though.
All the Aussie Brat Pack from that period have stayed friends — and Kontol Kylie and McMahon have actually acted together before, in 2016 film Flammable Children.
In The Residence, McMahon plays Australian PM Stephen Roos. Which is appropriate, given his father, Sir William McMahon, actually was the Australian PM from 1971-72.
The film streams from March 20.
My heavy metal dress threw my back out
Ella Hunt and Daisy Edgar-Jones attend W Magazine's Annual Best Performances Party at Chateau Marmont
Ella, 26, appeared in Kevin Costner's Horizon: An American Saga Chapter One and also acted in its sequel, which is yet to be released
Ella Hunt has come a long way from playing one of the twin daughters of David and Karen Marsden in Cold Feet.
She was a vision in metallic Fendi (left) at the Critics Choice awards in Los Angeles last weekend — banging the drum for the film Saturday Night, in which she plays comedian Gilda Radner.
‘I threw my back out wearing this dress,' she said. ‘It weighed like 70lbs.'
With a curly wig and a distinctive accent, she's pretty much unrecognisable as the Michigan-born Radner in the film, which details the difficult birth of legendary American comedy show Saturday Night Live.
The native Londoner explained that mastering accents was her party trick as a kid, when she would impersonate Paulette (played by Jennifer Coolidge) in the nail salon scene of Legally Blonde.
‘It's just become a hobby to pick up different people's voices. I think that's why I live in the States; because I love doing accent work. I'd much rather be in somebody else's voice than my own.'
Ella, 26, appeared in Kevin Costner's Horizon: An American Saga Chapter One and also acted in its sequel, which is yet to be released.
Sweetly, she and her Cold Feet ‘twin', Daisy Edgar-Jones, are still friends and partied together at the Baftas last year (right).
ITV defends true crime drama about Fergie's killer dresser
A drama series about Jane Andrews, the Duchess of York's dresser who murdered her boyfriend, ‘won't be an apology' for her, according to those involved.
ITV has commissioned a four-part mini-series, The Lady, from Left Bank Pictures, who made The Crown.
It's immediately attracted controversy, with the family of Andrews' victim Thomas Cressman condemning it.
But director Lee Haven Jones insisted this week that the programme ‘won't be an apology for her actions'.
‘Jane Andrews killed somebody - it's that simple. We will present the story of a very complex woman and do something which I think drama does very well: humanise the people involved and attempt to provide an insight into how they operated.'
Jane Andrews (pictured), now 57, was sentenced to life imprisonment and was released in 2015
Haven Jones, who also directed A Cruel Love: The Ruth Ellis story, which comes to ITV next month, added: ‘It will be fair towards her, rather than sympathetic.' ITV is expected to announce who is to play Andrews shortly.
Rick Cressman, whose brother Thomas was beaten with a cricket bat by Andrews as he slept, before she stabbed him in the chest in 2000, said his family were distressed by the prospect of the production.
Cressman, 73, said: ‘It feels that Tommy can never rest in peace. It's a very cruel thing that ITV have commissioned a drama about it.'
Hotelier Mr Cressman described The Lady as an ‘out-and-out attempt to profiteer' from the death of his brother, who was killed by Andrews at their home in Fulham, West London, after he refused to marry her.
Brody reflects on his side career
Adrien Brody — the bookies' favourite to win Best Actor at the Baftas on Sunday night and again at the Oscars next month — is a modest sort.
During a conversation with A Rabbit's Foot publisher and film-maker Charles Finch this week, he reflected on his successful side career as a painter. ‘A lot of actors are painters. It's a lot easier to sell paintings when you are a famous actor.'
Honest, Guv: I was never in EastEnders!
Sanjeev Bhaskar, currently starring as DI Sunny Khan in a new series of Unforgotten, keeps being identified as an EastEnders star — even though he's never set foot in Albert Square.
Sanjeev Bhaskar keeps being identified as an EastEnders star despite never starring in the soap opera
‘A bloke in a white van wound down his window the other day and said: "EastEnders?" I replied: "I am not in that show!" He said "Yeah, right" before driving off. And at a supermarket in Wales this woman came up and said: "You're in EastEnders!" I again replied: "No I'm not."
‘She then re-approached me elsewhere in the supermarket and said: "You ARE in EastEnders...my husband says you are."
Gascon set to miss Oscars
The star of Emilia Perez, Karla Sofia Gascon, will be absent from the Baftas on Sunday, after the fallout from apparently homophobic and racist tweets ended her campaign season. It now looks as if Gascon won't attend the Oscars next month either.
As for the Baftas, there's chatter that Conclave will scoop Best Picture, and that Ralph Fiennes — Cardinal Lawrence in that film — might just snatch a surprise win from The Brutalist's Adrien Brody.
That's my boy! Arine not fazed by son's nude scene
Patrick Schwarzenegger said that his family, who all went to see the first episode at the premiere in Los Angeles, were in for some surprises
Brace yourself for male nudity galore in the new series of The White Lotus, which will start streaming from Monday.
We'll see an awful lot of Arnold Schwarzenegger's son Patrick, wearing very little, as well as newcomer Sam Nivola's buttocks.
There also is a taboo-busting, full frontal glimpse of actor Jason Isaacs with his dressing gown agape, which is bound to cause a commotion.
Last series, a scene in which actor Theo James was seen naked ignited global debate, and James clarified that he was wearing a prosthetic penis.
Isaacs, 61, says of the flash: ‘Well I've done it now, so enjoy it while it's there.'
He added, jokingly: ‘I didn't know that I was naked in the thing. I don't really remember that day at all. The truth is, the nudity wasn't Mike (White Lotus creator Mike White). It's in my contract. I insist on it in every show.'
Patrick Schwarzenegger said that his family, who all went to see the first episode at the premiere in Los Angeles, were in for some surprises as the show continued (in addition to the nudity, his character has a penchant for porn).
He said: ‘Episode one is pretty safe. But you know, there's some uncomfortable conversations that are a little weird to show in front of your family.
‘I think that, yeah, episodes five and six, there'll be some times that I take some bathroom breaks when the family watch. Or maybe I won't watch that episode.'
The White Lotus is a social satire following the exploits of various employees and guests at an exclusive resort during one tumultuous week in paradise
Proud father Arnold, who first made his name in Hollywood as (shirtless) Conan The Barbarian, posted on Instagram on Tuesday: ‘I was so pumped to take a break from filming to celebrate @patrickschwarzenegger at the White Lotus Season 3 premiere.
What a show! I could claim to be surprised to find out he has a nude scene, but what can I say — the apple doesn't fall far from the tree.'
Sam Nivola, son of actors Emily Mortimer and Alessandro Nivola, said of his nude scene: ‘It was my first time... and of course, that comes with a lot of fear and anxiety. I'm already an anxious person, about just acting in general. Then you have got to do it naked!
‘It's intense, but there's few people that I would trust more with footage of my buttocks than Mike White. He made us feel so comfortable.'
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