A little over a year after Katy Perry received a text message from Russell Brand on New Year’s Eve 2011, saying he was divorcing her, she opened up to Vogue magazine about what she thought had gone wrong in their turbulent, 14-month marriage.
Perry’s comments about her “bad boy” ex-husband, for a June 2013 Vogue cover story, now come across as ominous. She alluded to finding out “the real truth, which I can’t necessarily disclose,” about the mercurial British actor and comedian — who has just been charged with multiple counts of sexual assault, including two counts of rape.
On Friday, Britain’s Crown Prosecution Service announced that they were bringing a case against Brand, 50, for alleged assaults against four women that took place between 1999 and 2005. On Friday, Brand posted a video on social media in which he admitted to being a “drug addict, a sex addict and an imbecile” before he found his Christian faith. But he denied ever committing rape or sexual assault and said he had “never engaged in nonconsensual activity,” the New York Times reported. He said he was grateful that he would have a chance to defend himself in court.
The last alleged assault, involving a woman who said she was sexually assaulted in London, occurred about four years before Perry met Brand while filming a cameo for his film “Get Him to the Greek.” The pop singer and Brand soon began dating, then married the following year in a traditional Hindu ceremony near the Ranthambore tiger sanctuary in Rajasthan, India.
Perry admitted to Vogue that she fell madly in love Brand, with the Vogue writer gushing about his “Regency hair, skinny Tudor legs and codpiece and ‘Wuthering Heights’ recklessness.” Perry acknowledged that “he’s a very smart man” but said she also came to find that her husband could be “controlling” and didn’t really want an equal partner. As she was becoming one of the best-selling music artists of all time, Brand didn’t like seeing her as “the boss” on her own tours. Moreover, she said he made cruel jokes about her in his stand-up sets.
But Perry apparently learned even more about Brand, though wouldn’t say what.
“I felt a lot of responsibility for it ending, but then I found out the real truth, which I can’t necessarily disclose because I keep it locked in my safe for a rainy day,” Perry told Vogue. “I let go and I was like: This isn’t because of me; this is beyond me. So I have moved on from that.”
But in 2013, Perry also admitted to Billboard that songs on her “PRISM” album helped her process her feelings about the end of her turbulent marriage. For example, “By the Grace of God,” alluded to the suicidal thoughts she had after Brand broke up with her via text. “That song is evident of how tough it really was at a certain point,” Perry said. “I asked myself, ‘Do I want to endure? Should I continue living?’”
Perry subsequently dated John Mayer, then met and married actor Orlando Bloom in 2016. In recent weeks, the former “American Idol” host has been gearing up for her global Lifetimes Tour, which includes one date in San Francisco on July 18. But she also has faced backlash over her choice to join a controversial, star-studded, all-female flight into space on April 14, organized by Jeff Bezos’s fiancée Lauren Sanchez and aboard one of the Amazon billionaire’s Blue Origin rockets.
As for Brand, he happened to talk about about their marriage on his “Stay Free” podcast this week, saying he has “nothing but respect for” Perry and that their relationship didn’t work out “for normal human reasons.”
Now that he’s been charged, Brand is due to appear at the Westminster Magistrates’ Court in London for a first hearing on May 2. He reportedly left the U.K. earlier this year and moved to Florida with his wife, Laura Gallagher, and young children, to get away from what he called attacks by the British “media, government and judiciary,” he said, according to the Daily Mail.
Brand became a star in Britain in the 2000s with acclaimed stand-up shows that often focused on drugs and sex, and which saw him selling out arena dates, the New York Times reported. He also became known as a TV and radio host for broadcasters including MTV and the BBC. He achieved fame in the United States through his brief marriage to Perry and after starring in movies such as “Forgetting Sarah Marshall” and “Get Him to the Greek.”
Russell Brand leaves the Troubabour Wembley Park theater in northwest London after performing a comedy set on Saturday, Sept. 16, 2023. Three British news organizations are reporting that comedian and social influencer has been accused of rape, sexual assault and abuse based on allegations from four women who knew him over a seven-year period at the height of his fame. Brand denied the allegations. (James Manning/PA via AP)
Brand also has been outspoken about becoming sober and his new-found Christian faith. He also has found a new calling has a politically charged YouTuber, where he posts videos that regularly include discussion of conspiracy theories and feature conservative figures like Tucker Carlson, the Hollywood Reporter and New York Times also said.
The British police began investigating Brand’s past behavior in September 2023, after The Sunday Times, The Times of London and the TV network Channel 4 published a joint investigation into allegations against him.
The sexual assault allegations, revealed against Brand in the Times and Channel 4 report, occurred between 2006 and 2013. They included a claim by a woman who said he raped her in his Los Angeles home in 2012, The Times of London reported. Another woman said he entered into a relationship with her when he was 31 and she was 16. Their relationship lasted three months, she said, during which Brand “groomed” her and was “emotionally abusive and controlling.”
The Times of London subsequently reported on a woman who filed a lawsuit in New York City in 2023, alleging that she was sexually assaulted by Brand while working as an extra on the set of his romantic comedy “Arthur” in July 2010. The alleged assault occurred in New York City while Brand was engaged to Perry,
The woman, an actress who chose to remain anonymous, said that Brand first exposed himself in full view of the film’s cast and crew then followed her into the restroom, “as a member of the production crew guarded the door from outside,” The Times of London reported.
Originally Published: April 4, 2025 at 11:25 AM PDT
