Katy Perry has been with fiancé Orlando Bloom for so long that it’s easy to forget she was actually married to another British guy: comedian and actor Russell Brand. While their initial breakup didn’t appear to be amicable, these days Brand can’t say enough good things about his ex-wife.
Appearing on the August 6 episode of Running Wild With Bear Grylls: The Challenge, Brand told Grylls that his time with Katy came at the same time that he was “most in the public eye,” thanks to his appearances in movies like Forgetting Sarah Marshall.
“Some aspects of it were, like, amazing. She’s an amazing person, and it was kind of incredible to live for a moment in that ‘eye of the cyclone’ type aspect of fame,” Brand said of their marriage, which lasted 14 months.
However, he notes, “Aside from my, like … feelings of affection for Katy, it’s a time that I remember as being a little bit chaotic and a bit, for me … a little disconnected.”
From Katy’s point of view, things didn’t sound that amazing. Speaking about Brand in a 2013 Vogue interview, she said, “Let’s just say I haven’t heard from him since he texted me saying he was divorcing me December 31, 2011.” She also claimed, “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.”
Thankfully, Katy and Russell have both moved on: Katy’s been with Orlando since 2016, and the two welcomed daughter Daisy Dove in 2020. Brand, meanwhile, married Laura Gallacher in 2017. They have two daughters and are expecting a third child.
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