Katy Perry's revealing comments about her relationship with Russell Brand have resurfaced ahead of his sentencing for a series of sexual offences. In an interview more than a decade ago with Vogue, the singer said she learned the 'truth' about Brand, which she was keeping 'locked in my safe for a rainy day'.
Marriage and split
Perry was married to Brand for 14 months before the relationship ended in 2011. The couple married in October 2010, a year after meeting when Perry had a cameo in Brand's movie 'Get Him to the Greek'. Brand was seen on camera appearing to break up with Perry by text just before she was due on stage.
Perry has said little about the marriage since their divorce. But in the days after Brand's conviction for rape and sexual assault, her 2013 Vogue interview comments are resurfacing.
Perry's account
Perry landed her first Vogue cover in 2013 and spoke about her first marriage at length. She said Brand seemed 'magical' when they first met and it was easy to fall in love with him, but the relationship was so chaotic that months later she was broken up with over a text message, a moment captured in her 'Part of Me' concert documentary.
Perry told Vogue: '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 added that Brand never liked that she was the boss while on her huge concert tours, and despite asking him to join her several times, he never did. Perry said Brand's hatred for her soaring fame and career 'was really hurtful, and it was very controlling.'
Conviction and sentencing
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.'
Brand, 51, faced three charges of rape, three of sexual assault and one of attempted indecent assault against six women. He was found guilty of one count of rape and three counts of sexual assault on Thursday at Southwark Crown Court. He was cleared of two further charges of rape and one allegation of attempted indecent assault. Brand will be sentenced today, Monday, November 9.
Perry was not asked to testify during Brand's trial, but it was revealed in court that she could have been 'in the room' during one of Brand's sexual assaults, which took place in 2009, just months before they were married. Brand was convicted of sexually assaulting a female Channel 4 worker after she was forced to give him a massage. In legal submissions made public after his conviction, his barrister Ian Winter KC said: 'The victim says that other people were in the room and witnessed it, possibly including the defendant's future wife, Ms Katy Perry.'
However, Brand's legal team argued that his marriage to the US star was irrelevant to the allegations, with prosecutors agreeing not to mention her, and the Crown Prosecution Service confirming she was never approached by police or asked to provide a witness statement.
