Georgina Baillie does not forgive Jonathan Ross for sending lewd voicemails to her grandfather Andrew Sachs but has made her peace with Russell Brand.
The 38-year-old granddaughter of the Faulty Towers star spoke out about the incident on the same week Brand, 48, was accused of sexual assault and rape by multiple women, which he vehemently denies.
She now says she has forgiven Brand for what became known as ‘Sachsgate,’ when he and Ross left explicit voicemails on Sachs’ phone boasting about Brand ‘f*****g your granddaughter’ during their BBC Radio 2 show in 2008.
Baillie was 20 years old and a fan of Brand when they first had consensual sex in 2005, when she went to his house when she was ‘out of [her] head’ drunk; they went on to have a casual relationship for three years.
She told the Mail Online she wished she could go back and change things as she ‘didn’t understand the concept of consequence… I never wanted to hurt anybody.’
‘Knowing I destroyed my grandfather’s happiness for a long time is really hard; she said, revealing she never really made her peace with Sachs and only spent time with him again when he was in a residential home when he was ‘very weak’ with only some ‘lucid moments.’
She apologised to him when he was suffering from pneumonia shortly before he died, and hopes that ‘maybe, maybe he forgave me’ as she said Brand and Ross’ actions ‘ripped my family apart.’
When it comes to Brand, she said she was ‘shocked’ to hear the accusations against him as it was ‘not the Russell I knew,’ who was ‘very, very poorly with sex addiction’ and was ‘encouraged’ by people making money from his ‘outrageousness.’
Brand went on to pay for Baillie’s treatment in rehab as she struggled with addiction, and at one meeting at the centre years later ‘made… a sincere apology’ for making their relationship ‘public.’
He allegedly told her he now has two daughters ‘and now understood what my grandfather had been put through.’
‘I’ve forgiven him. But I have different feelings for Jonathan Ross,’ she said.
‘There were no consequences for that guy,’ she said, pointing out the shortness of his suspension and asking how anyone with daughters could behave in such a way.
He never apologised to her personally, she claimed, though he issued a general apology saying he was ‘deeply sorry’ for the ‘juvenile and thoughtless remarks’ at the time.
‘ Jonathan Ross is from that group of chauvinist presenters who were given the green light in the 1980s and 1990s. We’re in a different world now but he’s never seen fit to say a word to me. He should be ashamed of himself,’ she said.
She claims she even messaged one of Ross’ daughters on social media recently asking ‘what do you think about this,’ but felt ‘really bad’ and apologised when Honey replied pointing out she was just 13 at the time.
Baillie struggled with guilt, feeling it was ‘all my fault’ and that she was ‘vilified’ for what Brand and Ross did.
The Sachsgate messages were broadcast during Brand’s BBC show days later sparking outcry from listeners.
Brand, 48, soon resigned from Radio 2 and the BBC was fined £150,000.
The BBC received a staggering 40,000 complaints after the Sachsgate episode was broadcast, which featured Ross saying that anyone who was offended by the prank was ‘crazy.’
Sachs died in November 2016 at the age of 86 after being diagnosed with vascular dementia.
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