Kirsty Gallacher appears to have deleted her public support to her brother-in-law Russell Brand which was sent in an Instagram post hours before allegations of rape, sexual assault and emotional abuse were made against him.
Comedian Russell, 48, is the subject of a joint investigation by The Times, The Sunday Times and Channel 4's investigation show Dispatches.
As Russell took to social media on Friday night to vehemently deny the claims hours before they were published by The Times, TV presenter Kirsty shared her brother-in-law's denial video to her 407,000 Instagram followers. She posted an animated love heart graphic on top of it. At the time of her post, the allegations had yet to be made public.
The post, which was shared less than 24 hours since the publication of this article, has now disappeared from Kirsty's Instagram story.
The 47-year-old is the sister of Russell's wife Laura, who married Russell in 2017 and shares two children – six-year-old Mabel and five-year-old Peggy – with him. Author Laura is currently pregnant with their third child.
In the video, Russell explained he had been contacted by a “mainstream media company” and a newspaper with some “very serious allegations” that he “absolutely refutes.”
The former Big Brother's Big Mouth host said: "I’ve received two extremely disturbing letters – well a letter and an email – one from a mainstream media TV company, one from a newspaper listing a litany of extremely egregious and aggressive attacks – as well as some pretty stupid stuff.
"Amidst this litany of astonishing, rather baroque attacks are some very serious allegations that I absolutely refute. These allegations pertain to the time when I was working in the mainstream, when I was in the newspapers all the time, when I was in the movies.
"As I’ve written about extensively in my books, I was very very promiscuous. During that time of promiscuity the relationships I had were absolutely always consensual."
He continued to address his six million YouTube subscribers: "I was always transparent about that then, almost too transparent, and I’m being transparent about it now, as well.
"And to see the transparency metastasized into something criminal, that I absolutely deny, makes me think, 'Is there another agenda at play?'"
The full allegations will be aired on Channel 4 at 9pm in a special episode of Dispatches titled Russell Brand: In Plain Sight.
In the wake of the #MeToo movement, the actor and comedian previously said he had no regrets about his previous sexual behaviour, claiming to have had intimate relationships with hundreds of women in the past.
In 2008, Brand made headlines for his BBC Radio 2 prank, now known as Sachsgate, when he left a “lewd” voicemail for Fawlty Towers actor Andrew Sachs – who died in 2016 – about his granddaughter.
Another famous face who shared support for Russell's video is Elon Musk, who commented on the video on X, formerly known as Twitter.
Elon wrote underneath the upload: "Of course. They don't like competition," seemingly taking a swipe at the mainstream media.
