Katy Perry and Russell Brand’s stormy marriage – ‘rows, control and brutal dumping’
Katy Perry and Russell Brand tied the knot 10 years ago today, but their marriage lasted less than 14 months…
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“You’re a mermaid and I’m drowning,” Russell Brand told Katy Perry as he drove her home from their first date in September 2009.
That very night he gifted her with a sensational black diamond necklace, setting the stage for an intensity that would continue throughout their romance.
A smitten Russell popped the question just three months later in a tent at the foot of a mountain in India on New Year’s Eve.
They tied the knot in a lavish Indian ceremony 10 years ago today and got matching ‘Anuugacchati Pravaha’ tattoos, translated as ‘go with the flow’.
But just months in, rumours of trouble in paradise began to swirl. Recovered drug addict Russell, then 36, and his 25-year-old wife were said to be clashing over everything from her partying and when to have children through to his stand up jokes.
What’s more, her mammoth 122-date California Dreams tour kept her away from home and the accompanying Part Of Me documentary showed Katy repeatedly curled up crying in her dressing room after yet another long-distance row with her husband.
And a source told The Mirror at the time they quickly realised they had ‘nothing in common’.
“Russell left his party lifestyle behind a long time ago because it nearly killed him. All he wanted to do is stay at home, do his yoga, keep his demons away and have a family with Katy,” the source said.
“But when Katy had rare time off from her touring all she wanted to do was go out partying in Hollywood.
“After the high of the wedding, reality kicked in. Katy was away all the time. Russell couldn’t handle it.”
Another problem was that Russell wanted to start a family but Katy didn’t feel ready.
“[Russell] really wanted me to have children, and I knew I wasn’t ready – I think it was a way of control,” she told Marie Claire of wanting to steer the course of her own life.
“I think it was part of, If I have a kid, then I would have to sacrifice – I’d have to be home more.”
Even comedian David Badiel – who is good friends with Russell attended their wedding – said the warning signs were there before they even got hitched.
He once recalled: “I was there… Russell did tell me that they had a big row the night before they got married.
“I did think when he said that, of asking, ‘Are you sure?’ but I didn’t say that. Perhaps I should have done.”
For Katy’s part, she was furious when she went to surprise her husband at a stand up gig only to find him making jokes about their marriage.
Furthermore, she claimed the presenter and actor struggled with her success and power.
“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 later told Vogue.
“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.”
Twice they drafted statements announcing plans to take time apart, but withdrew them at the last minute it was claimed, before things finally came to a head when Katy gave Russell her wedding ring back after a huge row before Christmas.
A source told The Mirror Russell responded by flying back to London with his mum Barbara while she flew to Hawaii with friends and turned her phone off, further inflaming the situation.
Katy had apparently only meant to call his bluff, but instead Russell blindsided her by filing for divorce and informing her by text on New Year’s Eve.
“Katy was surprised that Russell didn’t come running back but she had met her match. They are both strong-willed people and there has been a lot of game-playing going on,” the insider continued.
Despite the writing being on the wall, Katy was devastated, telling the Sunday Times in 2013 that she ‘got a good knock’.
“I was in bed for about two weeks. I was pretty f**ked, yes. It hurt a lot,” explained the star, who reportedly retaliated by taunting vegan Russell with a picture of a half-eaten Big Mac.
She continued: “Unfortunately, although I had the outward self-identity, I didn’t have the inner kind, I hadn’t built that up. My self-worth was in someone else’s hands which is never a good idea, because it can be taken from you at any time. And it was, and it was shattered.”
Meanwhile, Russell blamed her pop career for the split, blasting: “I’m associated with the very thing I detest: vapid vacuous, plastic, constructed, mindless celebrity.”
But there was no going back and Katy famously signed off her divorce papers with a heart and a smiley face.
In the years that have come since, Russell – who now has two children with his yoga teacher wife Laura Gallacher – has had nothing but nice things to say about his ex.
And when Katy announced her pregnancy with fiancé Orlando Bloom, Russell shared a video about overcoming heartbreak.
‘I have come away from that experience and I still feel very warm towards her,” he said in 2017.
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