Bear Grylls Supports Russel Brand’s New Faith Amid Serious Allegations
By Movieguide® Contributor
Adventure man Bear Grylls is defending his friend and new believer, Russel Brand, despite serious allegations against the comedian.
“Russell, you know, [it was] a privilege to stand beside him as he was getting baptized; that is a life journey for him,” Grylls told The Daily Telegraph. “I really wish him well and his lovely family.”
A year ago, The Times, The Sunday Times and Channel 4’s Dispatches reported that four women accused Brand of sexual assault, including rape and emotional abuse.
Grylls was honored to be alongside Brand during his baptism as he has had a “tough time,” with the allegations.
“Brand has denied the ‘very serious criminal allegations’ and acknowledged that while he was ‘very, very promiscuous’ in the past, his sexual encounters were ‘always consensual,’” The Christian Post reported.
Brands was baptized in the Thames on April 28. Grylls and another friend were beside him.
Movieguide® reported on Brand’s baptism in April:
“Yesterday, I got baptized, and it was an incredible, profound experience,” Brand said in an X video posted Monday.
He described how, in the past, he sought tranquility, peace and transcendence through substances. But “something occurred in the process of baptism that was incredible, overwhelming…I felt changed, transitioned,” he explained.
“I feel as if some new resource within me has switched on…this is my path now, and I already feel incredibly blessed, relieved, nourished, held…this is new to me, and it’s a joy to me,” Brand added.
Brand shared a photo of himself, Grylls, and another friend, Joe, sharing an embrace in the water.
He said, “Me, Bear Grylls, The River Thames and of course, The Holy Spirit.”
“Week one as a Christian has been amazing,” Brand said in a video. “The ceremony itself was incredible. I want to thank Bear Grylls and my mate Joe, the two men that stood either side of me and flanked me for the baptism itself.”
“Faith and spiritual moments in our lives are really personal,” Grylls said. “But it is a privilege to stand beside anyone when they express a humble need for forgiveness and strength from above. Friendships when we go through tough times are worth so much.”
The two have been friends since Brand guest starred on Grylls’s show, RUNNING WILD WITH BEAR GRYLLS.
“Let’s hope all of that stuff works itself out in a good way,” Grylls said. “And let’s hope those accusations aren’t true, for everybody’s sake, but I always try and live without judging anyone.I stand beside many people…that’s a privilege, trying never to judge, always to love, always be kind, support people wherever they are.”
Brand came to Christ when he realized that fame and money aren’t what matters. He has explored other religions, but he now claims that he’s a new Christian.
“I love the simplicity of the idea of God coming to Earth as a man to experience what it is to be human and to sacrifice himself because that is the only sacrifice that could bring us home, that could give us the opportunity for redemption,” he said on X.
“Like many desperate people, I need spirituality,” Brand said. “I need God, or I cannot cope in this world. I need to believe in the best in people.”
He acknowledged he “didn’t have enough self-discipline to resist the allure of stardom” and “fell face-first into the glitter, and I’m only just pulling myself out now.”
“In surrendering to Christ, there is something extraordinary about saying there is this man, another man, entirely God, entirely man,” Brand said. “But through some necessary, extraordinary, metaphysical act just beyond the edge of rational understanding came the Creator of this simulation came into the simulation and told us ‘Hello, I am God. I’ve come here. Here are some virtues and values.'”
Brand is a fan of C.S. Lewis and his books, The Problem of Pain and Mere Christianity.
“C.S. Lewis talks about the ‘stoics era’…to imagine that one might be able to do always what one can do sometimes. You know, there are times where it’s like…’I am not in the business of Russell Brand anymore,” Brand said.
“I am in the business of service. Serve Jesus Christ. And it’s such a powerful idea that I’m held alive by it,” he said. “But surely, this parasite nature grips me again, and I return to egotism. I return to wanting and longing and fear. And all of those limiting things.”
According to research by CBN, Brand hasn’t quite let go of his former spiritual beliefs that involve witchcraft, Eastern mysticism, Hinduism and Buddhism.
Please pray for Brand as he develops his relationship with God.
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