Russell Brand has told a court that he was wrong to have used his fame and success to “facilitate” sexual activity with women.

The 51-year-old comedian said he had “misused” his position “very selfishly” and dedicated his life to “reckless philandering and idiocy”.

But he insisted that “consent is more important than sex itself” and that the criminal case had been a “deeply traumatic episode” in his life.

Brand is accused of seven offences, including rape and sexual assault, against six women in allegations spanning 10 years from 1999. He denies all the charges.

Wearing a dark suit, white shirt and tie, he appeared in the witness box for four hours on Wednesday as he gave evidence at Southwark crown court.

He said he had achieved “staggering fame” after marrying the US pop star Katy Perry in 2010 but that now nobody would “touch him with a bargepole”.

Russell Brand denies all the charges. At the start of his evidence, he repeatedly said ‘no’ when the individual claims were put to him. Photograph: Elizabeth Cook/PA

He blamed his downfall on “devastating” 2023 media reports about his alleged sexual misconduct, which he said had led to him being barred from visiting his baby son when he was having open heart surgery at Great Ormond Street hospital.

He also said he had failed to persuade a single person with relevant information to give evidence on his behalf at his criminal trial. “Would they touch you with a bargepole?” his barrister, Ian Winter KC, asked. Brand replied: “No.”

The TV personality gave confident answers in a booming voice to Winter, issuing a series of terse “no” replies when asked if he had raped women in a hotel room, at his home and in a bar toilet, and sexually assaulted radio and TV workers.

He told the court he was “innocent” of all the charges and said: “Consent is fundamental, essential, necessary and indeed in many ways more important than sex itself.”

He later added: “Consent is an ongoing process and at any point anybody can withdraw their consent.”

During the course of his evidence, Brand told the court he does not remember some of the incidents in the charges and remembers only consensual sexual encounters in others.

He admitted saving the telephone number of a woman who accuses him of anal rape in 2009 with the letter “T” next to her name, meaning “tart”.

The woman alleges Brand raped her at his north London townhouse, a few days after she had willingly engaged in a threesome with the star backstage at the Hammersmith Apollo venue in London.

When Winter asked what he meant by the word “tart”, he replied: “That was what I used to denote casual hook-ups.”

He also put two asterisks next to the woman’s name, which he told the jury meant: “Never, ever forget this individual, this is a memorable encounter.”

Brand used colourful language to describe some of his accusers. He described a woman who alleges he raped her at the Labour party conference in 1999 as “vivacious and loquacious” and an MTV worker who accuses him of oral rape in 2004 as having “prominent eyes”. “She was lithe, elfin, pixieish, energetic,” he said.

But there were tense moments during cross-examination in which Brand stared at the prosecutor, Riel Karmy-Jones KC, in silence for several seconds. Occasionally he could be seen moving his lips before speaking out loud.

The prosecutor probed him about alleged inconsistencies in his previous statements and what he has told the jury with regards to the woman who accused him of anal rape. Brand said: “Ms Karmy-Jones, I completely agree. Since these events occurred there’s been escalating recollection.

“It’s been a deeply traumatic episode of my life I’ve focused on at the expense of my marriage, my children and health. I ask your forgiveness, well, not your forgiveness.

“I recognise that this recollection includes small details that are inconsistent and I acknowledge that.”

And when asked if the young fan was “just another sexual conquest” in his attempt to sleep with 5,000 women, Brand told the court: “I really don’t know the number, but it’s difficult to dispute that’s how I conducted myself in the pursuit of willing sexual partners.”

As he came to the end of his cross-examination, Karmy-Jones challenged Brand on what he had done to upset the woman so much. “I think I was in a position of fame, a successful person who was admired and I misused that commodity very selfishly,” he said.

“You were in a position of power in respect of each of these women,” the prosecutor continued, to which Brand replied: “As I became more successful and famous I was very comfortable allowing that to facilitate sexual access, which I agree with you was wrong.”

Karmy-Jones also confronted him with extracts from his 2007 book, My Booky Wook, in which Brand said he “would never have relented until I received my birthright orgasm”. Responding to one of the passages, Brand said: “I do recognise I have been a very determined and focused man.

“With women, of course, which is the subject of my trial, I’ve been persuasive, seductive, begging and flirting, and dedicated a lot of my life to what seems now beyond reckless philandering, and idiocy.”

The prosecutor said that Brand’s book included a picture of himself as a seven-year-old with the caption: “This is the exact moment when I decided to act gay to attract girls. It took 15 years to produce results.”

The first alleged rape victim has told the court she believed Brand was gay when they first met at a Labour party conference fringe event, which led to her agreeing for him to come to her hotel room.

The prosecutor asked Brand: “That’s something you would do, wasn’t it? That was something you would do to make girls trust you?”

“No,” Brand replied.

Brand is accused of three counts of rape and three counts of sexual assault. On Tuesday, an allegation of indecent assault was changed to a charge of attempted indecent assault. Mr Justice Bennathan told jurors they should find Brand not guilty of the indecent assault allegation after he concluded “there was insufficient evidence” to support the charge.

The trial continues.