NEWSRussell Brand Reveals Why He Split From 'Massive Star' Katy Perry
Russell Brand said he has 'nothing but respect' for ex-wife Katy Perry 14 years after their split.
Russell Brand is showing love to his ex-wife Katy Perry — 14 years after they went their separate ways.
“When I was married to Katy Perry ... she's like a not entirely normal [person] because she's an extraordinary, massive star,” the Hop actor said in a snippet from a recent episode of his podcast “Stay Free with Russell Brand,” which he shared via X on Thursday, April 3.
“But she's not weird or off-key and wasn't involved in anything nefarious as far as I could tell,” he added.
Brand didn’t hold back when explaining why their relationship didn’t last.
“Our marriage didn’t work out for normal, human reasons. I have nothing but respect for her, even though I obviously disagree with her political views,” he said, referring to Perry’s support for Kamala Harris while he publicly backed Donald Trump during the 2024 presidential election.
The comedian claimed that their marriage ended for 'normal, human reasons.'
“I probably disagree with some of my wife's political views, my beloved wife, Laura Brand's politics. You always disagree with people, don't you?” he continued.
He also used the podcast to talk about his thoughts on the entertainment industry, saying, “So, I think in general Hollywood and the culture are used to spellbind you and distract you. I've been very, very clear about that, and I do also now believe that there is planned and organized dark intelligence at work using the culture for distraction.”
The former couple met while filming a scene and hit it off quickly.
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As for how it all began, Perry and Brand first crossed paths while filming a flirty scene for the 2010 comedy Get Him to the Greek.
“When he was filming Get Him to the Greek, I did a cameo with him. My scene called for me to make out with him,” Perry told Glamour in 2010, remembering their first interaction two years earlier. “And on the way down the stairs after the scene, I was hopping like a bunny. I hop like a bunny when I’m happy — I get a bit childlike. He gives me the Christmas Eve jitters.”
Russell Brand said he has 'nothing but respect' for Katy Perry.
Though that specific scene never made it to the final cut, the two's chemistry was undeniable. The following year, when Brand was onstage at the VMAs, Perry made a bold move.
“I was 25, 30 feet away from him. And I threw the bottle straight at him. Hit him smack dab on the head,” she recalled to Esquire in July 2010.
The duo announced their engagement in January 2010 after just four months of dating and tied the knot during a Hindu ceremony in India in October of that year. However, their relationship ended just as quickly as it began.
Katy Perry later revealed Russell Brand ended their marriage with a text message.
By December 2011, Brand announced they were calling it quits. In a July 2012 interview with Howard Stern, he said, “I loved [Perry] so much,” but admitted things just weren’t working out between them.
"She's young, successful and dedicated," he said at the time. "[The reality is] you can't fully understand it until you do it. I was really into the idea of marriage and having children."
Perry, who is now engaged to Orlando Bloom, opened up about their breakup a year later.
"He’s a very smart man, and I was in love with him when I married him," she told Vogue. "[But] let’s just say I haven’t heard from him since he texted me saying he was divorcing me December 31, 2011."
She got even more personal in an August 2014 interview with Rolling Stone, saying, "[Divorce] was emotionally traumatic for me. It was the death of a dream. I was in fairy tale land, and the reality of it wasn't so."
