This story is strange. Katy Perry and Russell Brand’s divorce became official in July 2012. They were only married for 14 months before Rusty served Katy with papers. He mentally and emotionally buried that mess and ignored her attempts to trash him in the media. She did so many times and as recently as a month ago.
Double standards abound. Katy called her lawyers when Russell acknowledged her existence when questioned by Howard Stern. She shut down Rusty’s requests to remove his likeness from her documentary, Part of Me. That movie showed him, what, twice? And the point was to illustrate that Russell was never around while Katy was on tour.
Now Russell is coming out with his own documentary called BRAND The Film. The film is set to cover the last five years of Rusty’s life, and The Mirror says it will include his personal life.
This seems weird and out of character for Rusty. He’s never trashed his exes, and what he said to Howard Stern about Katy was somewhat flattering. I checked out the film’s website, which says Russell focuses on tearing down “the myth that becoming famous will make our lives complete.” He urges his audience to avoid becoming “drones who worship at the wrong altar.” Russell will be portrayed as “a troubled visionary who embraced the superficial and doped up times in which we live, only to find it was an empty proposition.” In frustration, he ditched his circumstances and found wisdom in the teachings of Gandhi, Malcolm X, Jesus and Che Guevara. Then he went on world tour.
Surely Katy’s lawyers will try and shut down any mention of their client. Do you think Russell include footage of Katy in his film? She’d deserve it somewhat. I kinda hope Rusty plays dirty in this documentary, but he seems too classy to do it.
Photos courtesy of Fame/Flynet & WENN
I wish since I can’t stand Perry and her going around talking shit for months but John Mayer was a troubled genius (eye roll)
The decription of the documentary makes me think Russell suffers from delusions of grandeur.
Have you ever actually heard him talk for a while? Do you know anything about him?
Yeah, hutter, he’s a comedian. It’s called humour. He knows he’s nothing like those people.
Whenever I look at this guy’s photos, all I think is Charles Manson! Yikes!
Hmmm… Now that you mention it, I realise that I don’t remember Brand bitching about his exes. As much as I don’t care about this shabby guy (or his things, including the most annoying,katy perry) this is amazing. Its a little unexpected and nice to see someone you almost immediately write off for his wierdness/ shady looks show he’s better than that. Now, that could all change and he could be just what you expect of him. Short lived amazing surprise. -_-
Of course he doesn’t, I doubt he can even keep track of his exes enough to trash talk them. They’re also so numerous and un-famous, no one cares or asks.
I thought he had said something about having to close his eyes and imagine someone else everytime they slept together. That’s pretty hurtful.
Lol, no. He made a vague marriage joke about sex being boring. It wasn’t a personal slam but a dumb jab about monogamy.
Well, there was that time he made prank calls on the air to the grandfather of an ex, which I thought was really cruel. I don’t even think Russell Brand had an issue with his ex, he was just picking easy targets and didn’t care who he was hurting with his antics. I always thought that was really mean-spirited of him, and have disliked Brand intensely since then.
Here we go, I found a link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Russell_Brand_Show_prank_telephone_calls_row
He made deeply misogynist comments about her, at the time. Said that she was in a burlesque troupe called The Satanic Sluts, and this professional activity meant she had no right to complain about his sharing details of his hook-up sex with her with the world as part of a publicity drive. IDK, that sat really ill with me.
There are many things I like about Brand, and I admire he took no money in settlement from Perry. I like that he never badmouths her. But he has done things that are clearly not okay to exes too.
@K
Me, too. It also really bugged me that he really didn’t seem to acknowledge any real wrongdoing. His apology to her grandfather was along the lines of how his actions could’ve been way worse; in other words, he kept rationalizing that what he did was no big deal.
As for taking the high road with Perry, I’m not sure I can give him any credit for that. I tend to attribute it more to the fact that she has the bucks to hire a strong legal team, plus a lot of clout in the entertainment industry.
Interesting. I like RB, so I suppose I’ll watch this at some point. Perhaps he won’t actively bash Katy Perry, but perhaps she betrays herself? IDK. It will be interesting to see how it plays out.
I like him, too. Intelligent, witty, and enlightened. He’s been poignantly honest about his addictions and actively works on recovery.
He’s so gross. I get that he’s also clever and eloquent, but he’s still skeevy as hell.
I don’t know why you think he’s be ‘lowering himself’ and ‘acknowledging her presence’ by including her. She’s definitely the more famous and successful of the two, and he’s the one who gets more out of the association.
+1. I’m on Katy’s side (and I don’t really like her or follow her music). It’s been documented that he dumped her via text (wtf!!). he was definitely distraught over the divorce, as seen in her documentary. In the documentary he wasn’t around. And although Bedhead thinks that’s normal, its not. Your husband should come see you on tour since obviously his schedule would be more accommodating than hers. From everything I’ve seen and read, I got the feeling that Brand saw Katy and fell for her instantly –and, honestly, more a physical attraction than a mental and emotional one. We know he wanted kids and she didnt. Really, she never mentioned it before they got married? I’m thinking she did and he was so wrapped in her that he didn’t take her seriously. His past drug / sex/ problems are probably still haunting him and creeped into the marriage. While I’m no Katy apologist , Im on her side on this thing.
I just want to start off saying I don’t think it was fair of Russel to expect KP to stay home to be with him, when she is a massively successful recording artist.
BUT people always forget what preceeded the breakup text: she ditched him for Christmas to go to Hawaii, and did a big photo shoot of her frolicking in the waves without her wedding ring. It was a juvenile stunt clearly intended to make a point, and it doesn’t shock me that he texted her a breakup at that point, especially since they weren’t even in the same place by her design.
Wasn’t he filming Arthur, creating his tv show that was on FX, and doing other work during the years they were together? It is NOT expected that a touring artist have their significant other with them on tour 24/7, especially if they have their own successful careers. That would be like expecting her to be on all of his film sets, regardless of her job commitments.
Typically, spouses go on the tour when they can, but not to every location. That only happens if one spouse is entirely financially dependent on the touring spouse.
All I remember is Russell Brand bad mouthing Katy after he divorced her and she didn’t say a word for the longest time, finally she had enough of his antics and had her lawyers contact him to stop it or they’d take him to court.
Since his career sky rocketed from dating and marrying her, and plummeted after their divorce, this is what he hangs on to? Her. Cheap and low.
For the record, I was a Brand fan and I don’t know much about Katy other than her poor choice in men.
Honestly, I think a large part of the problem was simply that she was *too young.* That’s the problem with relationships with significant age gaps, especially if one partner is still in their 20s. One of you is already on the road to where you want to be, while the other is just getting started. There’s still a lot of growing and maturing there, even into your late 20s. I’m of the mind that they both made major mistakes in the marriage and carry a fair bit of the responsibility for the breakup. Perry definitely behaved less attractively in the wake of it, but I didn’t think he was entirely an angel, either.
@Eloise: aside from stupid comedy bit about sleeping with the same woman all the time (the horrors!) he’s been incredibly respectful in their divorce (when pressed about it on Stern he actually said something along the lines of “you’re trying tob get me to trash my ex, and that woman is awesome, I can’t do it to her”). Perry on the other hand has consistently gone out of her way to paint herself as done-wrong, while never once acknowledging that she wasn’t exactly an angel. That’s why you see a lot of defending of Brand – not because he’s perfect (egads, no) but because Katy Perry has conveniently glossed over her own culpability in the dissolution of that marriage. Its icky.
Personally, I think they were morons to have gotten married. They clearly never discussed anything about what makes a relationship work, like goals and priorities and life plans (big shock that your superstar wife was going to go on a world tour) and she was clearly not ready to give up the party scene, which would be a pretty big issue for a recovering addict. Never mind the fact that in the grand tradition of comics, Brand seems like he’s got an awful lot of darkness in him, while Perry isn’t exactly known for her depth.
Everything is not about fame. RB has never talked trash about Katy or any of his exes while Katy couldn’t shut up about it. It would destroy all the image he created after divorce if he puts Katy in a bad light. I think he will acknowledge his marriage since it is biographical but will not go into details. I will probably watch it. I love Rusty.
Yeh, he never said anything really bad about her, but he has said a few things that rubbed me the wrong way-
On having sex with his wife- ‘Think of anyone, anyone else.'”
On dating after his divorce- ‘Like if you’ve been on a diet of rice for awhile and then suddenly Willy Wonka said, ‘I need you to run my chocolate factory.’
After calling the marriage ‘A drag’ he added, ‘That marriage was shaky from the get-go, before I’d even got off the elephant,’
I think he liked the idea of marriage, and I buy that he loved her a lot, but he just didn’t want to put in the work. Sure he’s smart and speaks kindly of her now, but he’s the one who dumped her by text, so of course he’s not going to bring it up, it makes him look bad.
@Gina: I wrote this above, but here goes:
People always forget that the breakup text was preceeded by Perry ditching him for Christmas and then setting up a “candid” photo shoot of her frolicking in the surf without her wedding ring. It was a petty move that was pretty clearly designed to imply an ultimatum for Rusty. He shouldn’t have broken up with her by text, but it was pretty clearly not out of the blue.
I have no sympathy for either of these two. How can you marry someone knowing that you’d spend maybe 10% of your time with them, and expect it to work? Those two were such a mismatch, for such a variety of reasons. Neither one seems like a picnic to be married to.
@Gina,
Rusty is a comedian. I think those jokes are pretty tame compared to Perry’s attempted smear campaign against him. I also wouldn’t put too much stock in what was portrayed in her crappy documentary. We don’t know that he broke up with her via text just like we don’t know he was never there.
I feel genuinely bad for her. She looks so in love and he looks very blank and checked out.
#TeamRussell all the way.
However he chooses to include her in this will no doubt be far more cordial/flattering than she has ever talked about him. I wish people didnt judge him by the way he looks/clothes he wears/etc. He’s a smart guy with oodles of personality and class.
This.
Agreed, Karen.
And just because he’s including her, doesn’t mean he’s putting her in a terrible light. He’s generally been pretty good when asked about her in interviews, so who knows.
Agree with all of you. He’s been pretty cordial when it comes to their marriage and break up, while she hasn’t.
I always think it’s funny how Russell has so many supporters here. He married her before he knew she was going on tour, made her fly out to see him the middle of said tour, and dumped her via text message after cheating on her.
BUT WAIT! HE’S A GREAT GUY!!!!
Of course he wouldn’t have anything negative to say about their marriage since he’s the one that was an ass.
Why does everyone forget what he did? Because he didn’t air their dirty laundry?? If roles were reversed, no one would ever forgive what she did.
One incident that people bring up was the VMAs when those two were married, when KP was making comments about being wasted and doing tequila shots, and Russel was there to pay tribute to his friend Amy Winehouse who had died because of her addictions.
Russel Brand is a dude with a lot of demons, amd I personally could not ever imagine being in a romantic relationship with him, but now that he’s gotten clean he’s turned out to be a thoughtful spokesperson about addicts and substance abuse. That marriage between. RB and KP must have been a disaster, but it doesn’t automatically make him terrible or her a saint, even though Perry got an awful lot of mileage out of that breakup.
Wait, what? Did Russell or Katy tell you all of this? I have to agree that bragging about being wasted on camera in front of your addict husband who is about to honor his just deceased addict friend is a really, really crass move. I don’t blame him for falling out of love with a person like that.
@yarriettt: all that stuff is public knowledge. His struggles with addiction have been pretty public.
I was watching with my own eyes when she said” I had a shot of tequila this morning”, and everybody cheered. What kind of person would rub it in his face when he is an addict. What an evil, scummy vapid self absorbed jerk. Grrrr.
It wouldn’t bother me if he threw her right under the bus.
Bridget,
I was agreeing with you. My question was directed towards Mrs. Lecter, which I did not make very clear.
On this ^^^ team too. Love Russell. Highly doubt he will “attack” Katy in any way. I’m sure he has compassion for her, and any mention of her will be gentle. He has held the high road all along, without any airs of superiority about it, while she has flailed about like a tantrum-y pre-teen. He doesn’t have to say one word.
+1
There’s no way in creation he’ll directly slag off whatsherface in this film.
It’s just a road trip of how he became politically aware, isn’t it? The journey from turning up at a demo by accident one day, via Chomsky and Klein through the prism of a bit of yoga, transcendental meditation, and happy-hippy energy, to telling people voting is a waste of time and mocking Fox News.
Bitching about an ex-girlfriend or wife would be the exact opposite of all the conclusions he’s come to.
I like Rusty. Not always in agreement with him, but if there’s one thing he’s earnest and consistent about, it’s putting positivity out into the world.
ITA with your whole post. There’s nothing in the description of this film that makes me think he will use it to slag off Katy Perry. It’s about his personal journey, which would logically include at least some mentions of being married, but that doesn’t mean slagging her off. From what I know about him, it’s more likely he’ll actually be very complimentary about her and will say how in love with her he was. As you said, it would be totally opposite of his philosophies and approach to life to trash his ex in a film, so I’m positive he won’t go that route.
i always thought he will be the type to “no time to waste water today” but upon meeting him multiple time, he looks and smells clean. 5 minutes of condo and any cerebral person could fall for him. Not necessarily dating him but share “his thoughts”. a very large vocabulary and a way of emphasizing the simplest thing.
Yes, Rusty is just so sweet and innocent that he’d never slag off on any ex. He’ll just call up her grandfather and describe in detail how he screwed her. Whatever he says about Katy and he’s said plenty, it’s his right to do so. Katy used him in her documentary so it’s only fair he is allowed to use her. But let’s stop with the narrative he didn’t play a part in scuttling his marriage.
I completely agree Mia. And I agree that what’s fair is fair and he will and should use her in his doc if he wants. I’m so tired of the narrative that he’d never do anything unseemly.
I guess I wasn’t around when everyone drank the BRAND kool-aid.
@Mia,
I am obviously a Rusty apologist, I hardly ever post but just lurk. I honestly missed him bragging about nailing his wife to her grandfather. Details?
Not his wife. Before he met Katy, when he had his radio show. He slept with some minor UK celeb. Her grandfather was a well-respected older actor. He called the man up on his show and told him how he had boned his granddaughter. Now, I don’t know but if someone ever did anything remotely like that to a member of my family I wouldn’t hold him in high regard.
Thanks, Mia. That is gross.
About the phone call to the grandfather, it wasn’t Brand that said “hi I shagged your granddaughter”. He was Co hosting the radio show with Jonathan Ross and in the first phone call Brand called the grandfather for a chat (as he did with a number of random people) and it was Ross who yelled in from the background to say that Brand had slept with the man’s granddaughter.
Yes in subsequent phone calls Brand admitted it and joked about it, but originally it was Jonathon Ross who let the cat out of the bag on that subject.
MarilynGray, yes, what you said. OriginalMia is misportraying the phone call incident. Sure, it wasn’t his best moment, but it’s hardly like he called the guy up with the pre-planned intent of rudely saying he shagged his granddaughter. It was a weird sequence of events on a radio show, and Jonathan Ross is the one who said it, not Russ. It was a joke that went too far, and Andrew Sachs himself (the actor and grandfather in question) accepted his apology and said he knew sometimes jokes just go wrong. Of course, once it all blew up in the press, he later changed his tune and claimed to be traumatized by it. But originally, he shrugged it off. I don’t think this dumb stunt sums up Russell in any way. It was 5 years ago, as well. He has matured since then.
No throwing shade, okay? His brain is so sexy. He is crazy intelligent and has a great sense of humor. It makes him hot, IMO.
I am not proud of this fact.
There’s a difference between featuring their time together and including their time together. I have a feeling it will be the latter. She was a part of his last five years, so she’s included. There’s no reason to suspect he’s going to change his no-talking-shit about her is there?
People hate RB because he has an odd hairstyle and jeans skinny jeans. He is very smart and one of the most “real” celebrities out there. I have been a fan since I discovered him on British TV during my study abroad in 2006. He destroys idiotic right-wing pundits and talks about love and compassion. I always thought he and Katy were a terrible match. She is the epitome of the empty-famous lifestyle and while he seems to enjoy his fame, he seems to need a deeper person. Not a girl who sprays whipped cream out of boob-canons.
I can’t stand Katy, she is a tireless attention seeker and her songs are bubble-gum nothingness sprinkled with sex-references and then marketed to young girls. I’m definitely team Russel!
You nailed it. Ty.
He finds Che Guevera inspirational? Katy was fortunate to lose this opportunistic douche!!
If you don’t find Che inspirational there is something wrong with you.
Che, Mao, Stalin, Marx, Pol Pot…all swell guys.
Love me some Russell.
Brand and classy don’t go in the same sentence. Can’t stand either but he is the epitome of douche.
Ok, so I know I’m probably the only person in the world who liked them together. I don’t know, they just seemed fun and like the got each other’s sense of humor. Plus, she was less douchy with him. Oh well…
I agree that his brain and his on point humor increase his attractiveness a lot. I think if he does use her in his doc, it will be much classier than hers was. She also took every opportunity to talk sh*t after they broke up and he just let it go.
Rule #1: don’t marry a mega pop star if you want a wife that’ll put a priority on travelling with you supporting your career.
Rule #2: don’t marry a recovering heroin addict who values his sobriety if you still want to party a lot.
Exactly!
totally!
KP-suck it up. She’s selfish and immature. While she has no problem trashing him, etc., she has no problem calling her lawyers when he went on Howard Stern. Double standard and hypocritical. You can’t have it both ways, expecting your ex to not say anything, but you should be given carte blanche to trash your ex, just because?
He’s never trashed her when speaking about the relationship and walked away the divorce w/o accepting any financial settlements. And yes, he would have been legally entitled to any $ they both made while they were married, but chose not to. Yes, he’s a douche and an addict, but you can’t discount these two huge factors, which indirectly speaks a lot about how he considered the marriage to be special. And yes, he definitely was not marriage material, but look at her history at picking “winners”. KP fans tend to overlook that and perceive RB as the bad guy (expected her to be home, addict, etc.) But, no one put a gun to her head to only date douchebags.
Her revolving douche, John Mayer, would have written a song, done an interview about their sex, picts, etc. but you don’t hear her trashing him? No.
My ex is a close family friend of one of her back-up dancers. I met this guy around the time they split up. He said she is a dream to work for – known as the best of the big pop artists. She takes care of all of her staff, is genuine friends with them, takes them away on group holidays to celebrate their birthdays, just genuine and lovely.
He said that it was an open secret that Rusty was cheating on her a lot when they were together. That she kept finding out about more and more indiscretions. He would never visit her and she did make a big effort to travel to see him.
At the same time, she was also partying and clearly Rusty does not partake, so it just wasn’t a good match.
Anyway… My 2 cents!