Katy Perry and Russell Brand married in October 2010, a year after meeting when Perry had a cameo in Brand’s movie “Get Him to the Greek.” They announced their divorce 14 months later, and the “Roar” singer has since described her ex-husband as “controlling” and “really hurtful.”
As she said on “60 Minutes Australia” in 2020, “It was just like a tornado, it was everything happening at once.”
Perry and Brand’s relationship is under the microscope in light of new allegations of rape and sexual assault against the comedian. As fans of Perry’s recall, Brand told his then-wife he was divorcing her via text, moments before she was due onstage ahead of a major concert. The moment was captured in Perry’s “Part of Me” concert documentary.
Perry landed her first Vogue cover in 2013 and spoke about her first marriage at length with the publication. She told Vicki Woods that Brand seemed “magical” when they first met and it was easy to fall in love with him. But the chaos that soon followed made it crushing when he exited the marriage only months later.
She explained, “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.’”
Perry added that Brand didn’t enjoy the fact that she was in charge while on the road, and despite asking him to join her several times, he never did. Perry said Brand’s disdain for his empowered wife “was really hurtful, and it was very controlling.”
Processing their split took time, but she was eventually given information that offered something like solace — and could even be a hint at the allegations Brand now faces. Perry said, “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.”
Multiple women have accused Brand of rape and sexual assault in a joint investigation by the Times of London and the United Kingdom’s Channel 4. The allegations are the subject of a “Channel 4 Dispatches” documentary, which airs Saturday. The assaults reportedly occurred between 2006 and 2013, which includes the years Perry and Brand were married.
