Katy Perry’s comments about ex-husband Russell Brand resurfaced after he was accused of sexual assault by multiple women.
Perry, 38, described Brand, 48, as “very controlling” in a 2013 interview with Vogue — and admitted she didn’t want to publicly share everything that led to their 2011 split. “At first when I met him he wanted an equal, and I think a lot of times strong men do want an equal, but then they get that equal and they’re like, I can’t handle the equalness,” she said at the time. “He didn’t like the atmosphere of me being the boss on tour. So, that was really hurtful, and it was very controlling, which was upsetting.”
She continued: “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. I let go and I was like: This isn’t because of me; this is beyond me. So I have moved on from that.”
Brand and Perry tied the knot in October 2010 after a whirlwind romance that began in 2009. In December 2011, Brand announced that they were divorcing after 14 months of marriage. In the same Vogue interview, Perry claimed that Brand texted her to tell her about the divorce.
Over the weekend, British newspaper The Times published a report in which four women accused Brand of sexual assault between 2006 and 2013. One woman claimed she was 16 at the time of her encounter with Brand, who was then in his 30s and allegedly referred to her as “the child.” In the Saturday, September 16, article, the woman claimed that Brand “engaged in the behaviors of a groomer” in his interactions with her.
One day before the investigation appeared online, Brand preemptively denied the allegations in a video shared via social media. “I’ve received two extremely disturbing letters, or a letter and an email, one from a mainstream media TV company [and] one from a newspaper, listing a litany of extremely egregious and aggressive attacks,” he said on Friday, September 15. “As well as some pretty stupid stuff, like my community festival should be stopped, that I shouldn’t be able to attack mainstream media narratives on this channel, but amidst this litany of astonishing, rather baroque attacks, are some very serious allegations that I absolutely refute.”
Brand didn’t refer to any specific allegations against him but said they pertained to the period when he was “working in the mainstream” as an actor. He went on to reference his memoirs, both of which detailed his battle with sex addiction.
“As I’ve written about extensively in my books, I was very, very promiscuous. Now during that time of promiscuity, the relationships I had were absolutely, always consensual,” Brand said on Friday. “I was always transparent about that then — almost too transparent. And I’m being transparent about it now as well. And to see that transparency metastasized into something criminal that I absolutely deny makes me question [if] there is another agenda at play.”
Brand has been married to Laura Gallacher since 2017. The couple share two daughters: Mabel, 6, and Peggy, 4. Brand announced in June that they are expecting baby No. 3.
If you or someone you know has been sexually assaulted, contact the National Sexual Assault Hotline at 1-800-656-HOPE (4673).
