Podcast host Russell Brand announced that he was baptized as a Christian over the weekend.
The 48-year-old discussed the ritual in a video posted Monday morning on X. Brand had shared his intentions to be baptized last week after formerly being a proponent of Buddhism.
“Yesterday I got baptized, and it was an incredible, profound experience,” the British-born actor began in the video. “Many aspects of it were very intimate and personal. The truth is this, as a person who has in the past, taken many, many substances and always been disappointed with their inability to deliver the kind of tranquility and peace and even transcendence that I’ve always felt I’ve been looking for … something occurred in the process of baptism that was incredible; overwhelming.”
I got baptised!!!!
And… pic.twitter.com/c1JamCk49x
— Russell Brand (@rustyrockets) April 29, 2024
He went on to confirm that the baptism took place in the River Thames. “I felt changed. Transitioned.”
Brand added that his life felt different following the baptism. “I feel as if some new resource within me has switched on,” he said.
The “Forgetting Sarah Marshall” actor continued, saying some fans have been supportive, while others are skeptical. “This is new for me, I’m learning … but this is my path now,” Brand said. “And I already feel incredibly blessed, relieved, nourished, held. It’s been an incredible experience.”
“I’m so grateful to be surrendered in Christ,” he concluded, thanking fans again for their support.
His comments match what Brand had spoken about in a previous video discussing his intention to get baptized.
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Brand said he believed baptism was an “opportunity to die and be reborn.”
“An opportunity to leave the past behind and be reborn in Christ’s name, like it says in Galatians,” he said in a separate video shared on Friday. “That you can live as an enlightened and awakened person.”
It’s no surprise to those following Brand on social media. He’s been studying and contemplating Christianity for months and began wearing a crucifix earlier this year.
“I suppose it takes a certain amount of adulthood, and it might be different for all of us — for me, it seems that it’s taken quite a lot — to recognize that you need — I need — a personal relationship with God,” he said in a video posted in January.
At another point, Brand encouraged his fans to pray the rosary.