Russell Brand is “a seriously unwell sex addict”, according to Georgina Baillie, the woman at the centre of his infamous “Sachsgate” phone call.
Baillie, the granddaughter of celebrated Fawlty Towers actor Andrew Sachs, was 21 and performing with a burlesque troupe called the “Satanic Sluts” when she first met Brand. She said he immediately began pursuing her.
The affair that followed triggered a national media scandal—one that, in hindsight, might have ended Brand’s career permanently.
For Baillie, however, the consequences were deeply personal. She spiralled into alcohol and drug addiction and developed what she described as a damaging attitude towards sex, leaving her feeling “worthless”. Her relationship with her grandfather never fully recovered.
Now 41, Baillie followed Brand’s trial closely.
In an exclusive interview with Our News Outlet, she said she was sickened that her former lover had forced his alleged victims to endure the ordeal of giving evidence.
Georgina Baillie, 41, was drawn into Russell Brand’s sordid world when the fallen comic phoned her grandfather, the Fawlty Towers actor Andrew Sachs, to boast of having sex with her
Ms Baillie was a 21-year-old performer in a four piece gothic burlesque dance group called the ‘Satanic sluts’ when she entered Brand’s orbit and they enjoyed a consensual relationship
But Ms Baillie’s world came crashing down in 2008 when Brand and Jonathan Ross phoned her grandfather to disclose details of her sex life – with the messages broadcast on BBC Radio 2
Brand, 51, is facing a lengthy custodial sentence after he was found guilty of rape and three counts of sexual assault at Southwark Crown Court on Thursday
She said: “Justice has been served. Although he never raped or assaulted me—as I have always said, I did not know what happened in the privacy of the rooms where the victims and Russell were together—their evidence was compelling. He has been found guilty, and I now want Russell to put right the wrongs.”
Baillie said she felt let down after learning about the darker reality of her former boyfriend’s behaviour. “I feel very sad and disappointed in him,” she added.
Brand, now 51, faces a possible prison sentence next week after being convicted of rape and sexual assault following a three-week trial at Southwark Crown Court. Jurors heard disturbing accounts of his conduct towards women over a decade, from 1999 to 2009.
During that same period, Baillie was among the women with whom Brand had sexual relationships. In her case, she described it as an on-and-off consensual affair lasting about two years before it became public in a deeply humiliating way.
In one of broadcasting’s most controversial pranks, Brand and his friend and BBC Radio 2 co-presenter Jonathan Ross called Sachs on air and left messages about Brand having sex with his granddaughter.
The incident, later dubbed “Sachsgate”, prompted a national backlash.
It also came at enormous personal cost to Baillie, causing her relationship with her beloved grandfather to collapse.
She did not see or speak to him for eight years. Their only subsequent meeting came shortly before his death in 2016, when she visited to apologise for the scandal. Sachs was 86.
Baillie later developed serious addiction problems, and it is through the experience of her own recovery that she now views Brand’s behaviour.
She said: “Russell Brand is a sex addict. It’s obvious to me. That boy is seriously unwell.
“When I entered recovery from drugs and alcohol, I learned about cross-addiction—putting down one substance and replacing it with a behaviour.
“If my drug of choice were available three times a day in different bodies—Brand’s description of his sex addiction—I would pursue it if I were unwell and not using the tools of recovery. I understand how that happens, and yes, he is a sex addict.”
She stressed, however, that describing Brand in those terms does not excuse or justify his crimes.
“I’m a survivor of sexual assault myself,” she said. “It’s very disappointing to me that, if his memory had been jogged, he couldn’t simply be a grown man and make amends, as he did for me. I know he is capable of that.”
Baillie was referring to Brand’s actions after the scandal. Brand, who is also a recovering drug addict, paid tens of thousands of pounds towards her therapy and other medical costs because he felt guilty about what had happened.
She remains grateful for his help in rebuilding her life, even though she believes he played a major role in derailing it. Now, she hopes he will show the same willingness to help the women who accused him.
“He’s been found guilty. He needs to make amends,” she said. “Owning up would be the first part. The second would be taking whatever measures are necessary to help put these women’s lives back together.”
She added: “I want those victims to receive help. I really do. Recovery is possible. I know from personal experience how difficult it is to recover from sexual assault, although mine was not at Russell’s hands.
“It is a long road, but they will get there. I want them to heal and regain the ability to improve their lives.”
Only two complaints were made in the week after Brand’s radio programme aired. After The Mail on Sunday reported the story the following weekend and coverage intensified, the total rose to 44,790.
Brand and Ross left four messages containing repeated and graphic claims about Baillie.
In one message, Ross shouted: “He f***** your granddaughter.” In another, Brand told Sachs: “But it was consensual, and she wasn’t menstrual, it was consensual lovely sex. It was full of respect. I sent her a text. I’ve asked her to marry me, Andrew Sachs.”
Ms Baillie says that phone call to her grandfather Sachs (pictured here with his grandchildren) destroyed her relationship with him – they didn’t speak for eight years afterwards
Sachs, who was a national treasure for his role as the hapless waiter in the hit BBC show Fawlty Towers, held conservative views – and blamed Ms Baillie ‘entirely’ for the embarrassing episode
Ms Baillie said that her grandfather – pictured with John Cleese – was in a home and in the final stages of dementia in 2016 when she tried to reconcile with him and apologise for the incident
Sachs is seen here as Manuel and Cleese as Basil in BBC’s Fawlty Towers. The comedy is seen by many as the greatest British TV sitcom ever made and made the cast household names
Baillie recalled: “Russell had a very famous Radio 2 show. He was at the height of his fame and had become friends with Jonathan Ross. They decided it would be funny to call my grandfather, Andrew Sachs, and interview him over the phone.
“His agent probably did not pass on the message, so they reached his answering machine and left the most vile message in the world.”
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At the time, there was widespread disbelief that the programme had been prerecorded yet no one on the production team had flagged the content. No senior BBC editor had listened to it before transmission.
Baillie said the decision to broadcast the messages reflected an astonishing failure of judgment and had devastating, irreversible consequences for her.
“No girl wants her grandparents to hear that, let alone the entire world,” she said. “Who wants their grandparents to know what they are doing in bed?
“It was a split second that changed everybody’s life.”
Following the public outcry, Brand resigned, along with Radio 2 controller Lesley Douglas and head of compliance Dave Barber. Ross was suspended without pay for three months.
Ofcom, the media regulator, fined the BBC £150,000 and described the broadcast as “gratuitously offensive, humiliating and demeaning”.
Recalling how Sachsgate contributed to her drug and alcohol addiction, Baillie said: “They were slut-shaming me.
“It was bullying directed at my grandfather. Even if I were the biggest whore in the world, it would not matter. It was still bullying.
“It was an inside joke between two foolish men.”
She continued: “I was a very lost young woman, and then I began saying yes to everything. I thought, ‘I’m already a whore in your eyes, so let’s give you a whore.’ It made me feel that nothing I did mattered.
“Drink and drugs had always been part of my life, but things peaked years later. I spent years numbing myself with alcohol, drugs and men—whatever was available.”
Baillie said Brand apologised for his conduct and paid for her to attend a rehabilitation centre in Staffordshire in 2018, where she stayed for six months. After leaving, she relapsed into alcohol and drug use.
With support from family and friends, she is now six years sober and works as an artist. She also hosts a podcast about addiction and recovery.
Despite Brand’s apology, Baillie said she has struggled most with the damage Sachsgate caused to her relationship with Sachs and her grandmother, Adelaide.
Family members said the couple, who belonged to an older generation, blamed Baillie entirely for the scandal.
“I did not speak to my grandparents for eight years after Sachsgate,” she said. “I tried repeatedly. I called them and wrote letters, but eventually I decided to mourn them while they were still alive.
“It felt deeply unfair.”
Describing her final visit to Sachs in December 2016, Baillie said: “I eventually saw my grandfather again. I don’t know whether he knew who I was—he was in the late stages of dementia. He was living in a beautiful care home for retired actors.
Ms Baillie says the notorious phone call was the catalyst for her life unravelling and she descended into drink and drug addiction for which spent six months living in a rehab facility
She has spent years putting her life back together and her family believe that Brand only paid for her time in rehab himself because he was driven by guilt at causing her to go off the rails
“I remember it perfectly. I sat opposite him, and that was the last time I saw him. He looked directly into my eyes, and I looked into his. For a moment, my grandfather was there again—lucid.
“I said, ‘I’m wholeheartedly sorry for what happened and for my part in it.’ I cannot control what other people do, only my own actions. So I cleaned up my side of the street as much as I could. Then he died.”
Baillie is still troubled by the possibility that Sachs was no longer able to understand her words.
“I choose to believe we resolved it, but with someone who has dementia, there is no way to know for certain, is there?” she said.
Baillie also apologised to her grandmother, who died the following year, in 2017. She did not discuss the details, saying only: “I made amends with everyone.”
The Mail can also reveal that Baillie provided a statement to Brand’s defence team at their request, although it was never used during the trial.
It is understood the statement was prepared as a possible response if witnesses discussed Sachsgate. As the issue did not arise, it was not presented or made public.
Baillie said she has no regrets about providing it because she simply answered questions truthfully and did not intend to challenge the experiences of other women.
“They asked whether he had ever done anything to me that could be considered non-consensual,” she said. “I had to tell the truth, which was no. They then asked more nuanced questions, such as whether I could imagine Russell behaving that way towards other women or whether he had ever been aggressive. All I can speak about is my own experience.
“I said no, because that was true for me.”
Despite Brand’s conviction and her sympathy for his victims, Baillie said she does not regret her own relationship with him.
Reflecting on their time together, she said: “We were mainly seeing each other for sex. It was a casual relationship. But over the year and a half or two years, I think we began to like each other. I probably liked him more than he liked me.
Ms Baillie can now only reflect on her time with Brand and has concluded that he is an unwell sex addict and should spend the rest of his life trying to make amends to his victims
“He was seeing many women, and I knew that. I never doubted that I was one of many, but I did not care at the time. He had his drug of choice constantly available. I was one part of that—I was only one line among many.”
Asked what had attracted Brand to her, she replied frankly: “I was an attractive woman in my twenties, available and willing to have sex. That was the only qualification I needed.”
Only later did she learn that some of the other women Brand pursued had not consented as freely.
Baillie remains adamant that Brand should now use his media fortune to support those victims, just as he once helped her.
