'I'm so easily wound up. I'm volatile person - I was a drug addict for a long time, because I have very, very strong feelings,' he said

Star worth £9m admitted he 'shouldn't be allowed on TV' after interview

Brand is said to live in a chic fourth-storey flat in a converted warehouse

Flew into rage when it was suggested he is part of the housing problem

Millionaire Russell Brand ranted about rising rents in London even though he lives in a £2million bachelor pad owned by a firm based in a tax haven.

The comedian and self-styled revolutionary flew into a rage when it was suggested he is part of the housing problem in trendy Hoxton, east London, where he rents a £5,000-a-month loft.

The star, believed to be worth £9million, was helping deliver a petition on affordable housing to 10 Downing Street on Monday.

But Brand lost his temper during a housing protest in Downing Street when TV reporter Paraic O'Brien asked him whether the super-rich buying up property in London was driving up prices for everyone else.

The incensed star said he is 'part of the solution' and called the reporter a 'snide' for asking how much he pays in rent.

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Upset: Russell Brand called a journalist a 'snide' after he was asked how much he paid in rent for his London home

Support: New Era resident Lindsey Garrett, who along with hundreds of others fears eviction, defended Brand for being 'prepared to come out of his big house and help us' - unlike David Cameron

Concerns: More than 90 households within The New Era Estate in Hoxton, East London, fear the plan to charge 'market rents' will treble their bills and force them out of the area

Asked the value of the house he lived in, he replied that his home is rented but refused to give any indication of what he pays.

BRAND LIVES IN INDUSTRIAL AREA TRANSFORMED INTO THE HOME OF THE RICH, FAMOUS AND ARTISTIC The Hoxton and Shoreditch areas of east London, where Russell Brand lives, have been transformed into the trendiest area of the capital. It was decimated by the blitz and became an industrial wasteland and before that in the Victorian era it was filled with slums. But now it is the favoured place for many in new media and art, including Brand, Tracey Emin and Damien Hirst. Local experts say that in 2007 buyers paid an average of £541 per sq ft for Shoreditch residential compared with in excess of £1,200 per sqft last year. Russell Brand is believed to live in a three bedroom loft-style house in a converted Victorian factory in the heart of trendy east London where rents are in excess of £5,000 a month. The area is also with walking distance of the City and has become popular with rich financiers. Advertisement

Brand, who is estimated to be worth £9million thanks to his comedy shows, films and books, is understood to live in a chic fourth-storey flat in a converted warehouse in East London, paying around £5,000 a month in rent.

The three-bedroom property with roof terrace, in the heart of trendy Shoreditch, is worth about £2million and is owned by a property firm based in the British Virgin Islands.

With the national average wage only around £2,000 a month before tax, renting it would be well beyond the reach of most people.

Brand, whose current best-selling book Revolution is an anti-capitalist diatribe, became aggressively defensive when O'Brien questioned him.

Asked about the value of his home, the 39-year-old angrily replied: 'I'm not interested in talking to you about my rent, mate. I'm here to support a very important campaign.'

Accused of being 'part of the problem' of rocketing housing prices, Brand, 39, said: 'I am part of the solution.'

He suggested his fame meant he was able to 'amplify the voices of ordinary people'.

Asked again about his house, Brand pointed his finger in O'Brien's face and said: 'It's rented. We don't know the value, you would have to talk to my landlord. Blessedly, I can afford my rent and I'm prepared to stand up for people that can't.'

Home: Russell Brand's rented property in Hoxton, which could be worth up to £1.5m for its owner and would rent for upwards of £5,000 a month

Grand: The millionaire reportedly lives here in this loft-style home in trendy Hoxton

Message: Brand has his own YouTube channel and a number of videos are believed to have been made at his east London apartment, including on its roof terrace, left and right

Life of luxury: Brand sits in the open plan kitchen inside the £2million flat in east London

Support: Brand lives less than a mile from the estate and says he is using his fame to give them a voice

Support: Brand marched on Downing Street with hundreds of people from the New Era Estate in east London, who fear they will be forced from their homes after the development was bought by a U.S.-based investor

To watch the full video click HERE

Refusing to answer further questions about his own housing costs, Brand terminated the two-minute interview and accused the reporter of trying to wreck his campaign, saying: 'Snides like you, mate, undermine it. You're a snide.'

BRAND WAS SUPPORTING ESTATE BOUGHT UP BY U.S. INVESTORS Russell Brand joined hundreds of London tenants who marched on Downing Street because they fear eviction. Residents of the New Era housing project in Hoxton, east London, live in a development originally built as affordable housing for local workers. But New York-based Westbrook Partners want to raise rents to market levels and Brand has championed the cause of the tenants. 'It's social cleansing,' said Lindsey Garrett, a health care coordinator with the NHS. 'It's forcing ordinary working-class people out of London. It's wrong.' Westbrook Partners bought the estate from a family that owned the development since the 1930s. Hackney Council has since been told Westbrook plans to evict the residents while renovations take place. They would be allowed to return if they pay market rates, which would be an estimated three times their present rents. But the company said that no eviction notices have been sent, nor legal proceedings undertaken. 'Westbrook has told tenants that there will be no changes to their residential leases and no increases in rents during the first half of 2015,' the company said in a statement. Advertisement

After Brand's fans abused O'Brien on social media, the journalist wrote on Twitter yesterday: 'Is it my job to test tension between private circumstances and publicly-held views of celebrities? Yes.'

Brand, who has posted film of himself inside the flat on his website, was nowhere to be seen yesterday.

The video explained his explosive reaction to questions about his home.

He said: 'I shouldn't be allowed on television because I'm so easily wound up.

Really I should just be like 'What does it matter to me? What does it matter to me? What have I got to lose just from this bloke?' But I'm like a volatile person - I was a drug addict for a long time, because I have very, very strong feelings'.

An estate agent who asked not to be named said of Brand's property: 'We had it on at £1,150 per week two or three years ago.'

The warehouse conversion last changed hands in March 2007 when it was bought by a property firm in the British Virgin Islands for £1.25million, having sold three years earlier at £730,000.

Prices have shot even higher across the capital since.

Brand is understood to have sold a previous home, a five-storey house in Hampstead, North West London, for £2.3million in 2010.

He maintained his refusal to discuss his housing costs yesterday, but in a new video on YouTube described the spat with the reporter as like a 'quarrel at a jumble sale'.

He added: 'I shouldn't be allowed on television. I'm so easily wound up.'

Last night Brand suffered fresh embarrassment when the Plain English campaign declared him winner of its Foot in Mouth award 2014, saying it 'struggled to make sense of most of his comments'.

One Brand passage it quoted was: 'I loved it, and felt very connected to activism – particularly activism that feels loaded with potential. Not the oppositional activism that seems like there's a stasis around it.'

Brand is supporting more than 90 households within The New Era Estate who fear the plan to charge 'market rents' will treble their bills and force them out of the area

Explanation: Brand went into more depth about his comments to the TV reporter in a video on YouTube

Video: Brand admitted in the clip responding to the Channel 4 interview that he was an 'emotional' person

Response: Journalist Paraic O'Brien admitted he had some abusive tweets about his interview

BBC In another bizarre interview in October on Newsnight he also sparked fury after revealing he is 'open-minded' about whether the United States was behind the 9/11 attacks

HOW HARD-UP ESSEX BOY BRAND BATTLED DRUG AND SEX ADDICTION TO MAKE MILLIONS AND BECOME ONE OF BRITAIN'S MOST FAMOUS MEN It is hard to believe that ten years Russell Brand, 39, was almost completely unknown. But now he is internationally famous and instantly recognisable, and has married or dated some of the world's most famous women. Brand, an only child from Grays, Essex, was single-handedly brought up by his mother Barbara, after his father Ron walked out when he was six-months-old. As a teenager he admitted he was a lonely misfit, who suffered mental illness, became overweight and then battled bulimia. After leaving school and wanting to become an actor after appearing in school production of Bugsy Malone, but his time as drama school ended after he was asked to leave over bad behaviour. Describing his life at 20 he said: 'I lived on my own in a bedroom in Finsbury Park. I would spend all day eating Weetabix and watching Richard and Judy. I remember thinking, '24 hours have passed and I haven't moved from this spot'. But a break led to a job on Channel 4, and fame and fortune followed. His stories of debauchery have become legendary, and in his autobiography My Booky-Wook he tells stories of numerous encounters with prostitutes - one with enormous breasts 'like bin bags filled with lard' whom he visited during his lunch break when working on a TV series. His womanising meant he has been in relationships with huge number of women, including Kate Moss and other famous faces. But in 2009 Brand met American pop star Katy Perry. Their 2010 wedding in India was immensely grand, involving entrances on elephants and parties under the stars. However, within three months he and Perry were reportedly having couple counselling, and in 2012 they divorced. After a romance with Jemima Khan he now appears to be single and is focussing on his book Revolution and promoting his anti-capitalist ideals. Advertisement

To see the whole Channel Four interview click HERE

Russell Brand's speeches and revolutionary book rewarded with prize for complete gobbledygook

Russell Brand's anti-capitalist crusade has led to a best-selling Revolution book and speeches all over the world.

But sadly for the comedian his public speaking and authorship has rewarded with a prize for gobbledygook.

Brand, who achieved notoriety in 2004 as the host of Big Brother's Big Mouth and has most recently been railing against the political system.

But two appearances on Newsnight and his book called Revolution has led to him being named the winner of the Plain English Campaign's Foot in Mouth award for 2014.

Award: Judges said the level of gobbledygook produced by Russell Brand in speeches and in his book was 'out on its own'

The campaign said Brand was 'out on his own' among contenders for the title, adding: 'While we admire Russell's determination to open up a debate about democracy and the dire state of the world, we struggle to make sense of most of his comments.'

Among Brand's quotes singled out by the campaign as award-winners were: 'The internal mayhem I'm feeling is spilling out everywhere. I loved it, and felt very connected to activism - particularly activism that feels loaded with potential. Not the oppositional activism that seems like there's a stasis around it - earnestly sincere, but a monolith equal to the establishment.'

Another quote from Brand's book Revolution reads: 'This attitude of churlish indifference seems like nerdish deference contrasted with the belligerent antipathy of the indigenous farm folk, who regard the hippie-dippie interlopers, the denizens of the shimmering tit temples, as one fey step away from transvestites.'

The City of Edinburgh Council, Local Action Cornwall's Local Development Strategy, HM Revenue and Customs, BT and Buckinghamshire County Council all received Golden Bull gongs for 'the worst examples of written tripe'.

But the awards also celebrated those with a flair for language, with London Mayor Boris Johnson named Plain English Communicator for his comments on gobbledygook in politics.

A Johnson quote that helped win him the title was: 'I think one thing that is incredibly important is to try to speak ... and I fail totally on this and I catch myself endlessly on the radio ... you're waffling and burbling and using all sorts of endless Latinate words in exactly that way.