Hollywood is notorious for its whirlwind romances, and Katy Perry and Russell Brand were one of them.
You know, the kind of romance where they date for 5 minutes and then get married for
3 seconds and then get a divorce. Okay, it wasn't really THAT quick, but still.
It all happened very fast, and it didn't last very long.
What makes this one interesting is the fact that Russell ended things with Katy via TEXT MESSAGE.
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Following the release of the Netflix concert movie, Part Of Me - which was only released after
the divorce announcement - fans got to see what was really happening behind the scenes of their
marriage, and it was clear that things were truly a lot more difficult than the couple had let on.
The singer's relentless schedule included 124 shows; the tour cycle saw around ten
shows take place almost back-to-back before she was allowed to take just a few days off.
Those few days off she dedicated to spending solely with Russell.
In order to see him, Katy was constantly flying back and forth. However, her husband
rarely joined her on the actual tour or met her in the cities where she was performing.
Just as they're often slow to reveal themselves in real life,
the cracks in Katy and Russell's relationship gradually became wider and unavoidable on screen.
Russell's appearances in the documentary are fleeting at best, and his absence speaks volumes.
Visibly frustrated and exhausted, Katy attempted to balance the biggest tour of her life while
single-handedly trying to save her marriage. When it all fell apart, her heartbreak was laid bare.
However, things weren't always so tough for the couple. After a chance meeting at the 2008 MTV
Video Music Awards, Perry and Brand were brought together by Brand and Jonah Hill's 2010 film,
Get Him to the Greek. The singer had a small cameo moment in the film, where
she had a steamy make-out session with Russell. However, the scene was deleted from the film.
Later that year, following Perry's performance of "I Kissed a Girl" at the VMAs, Brand joked,
"I was so inspired by Katy Perry's song's message that I'm currently going through
nine ChapSticks a day and my penis has never felt more moisturized."
Yeah, Russell … we're not sure that's what chapstick is supposed to be used for.
However, while he was … "inspired" by Katy's song, there was a little problem.
Perry wasn't single; she was still dating Gym Class Heroes frontman, Travie McCoy.
But the tables turned in favor of Russell just a year later.
At the 2009 VMAs, Katy was now a single woman, having split from McCoy,
and Brand saw this as an opportunity to take a chance on the singer. They flirted their way
through rehearsals for the show, and rumors that they were an item started buzzing soonly after.
Things were reported to be very hot and heavy between the two.
However, they avoided the spotlight for the first few weeks of their relationship.
That was until they made their debut as a couple at a Fendi party at Paris Fashion Week.
Once the cat was out of the bag, the couple had no plan of slowing things down. It was only
three months into their relationship that Russell decided to propose to Katy. This happened on New
Year's Eve in 2009 outside the Taj Mahal while the couple was on holiday in India. Ironically
enough … He would later text her that he wanted a divorce two years later to the day. Owch …
Before we skip ahead of the story, the couple said 'I do' in India in a private ceremony less than
a year later. A reported 21 camels, elephants, horses, traditional dancers, and musicians formed
part of Brand's wedding procession. Sounds fancy? Just wait until you hear about the wedding gifts!
The BBC reported that rapper P. Diddy also performed at the wedding ceremony,
and Russell gifted Perry one of the sanctuary's rare female tigers. We don't know about you,
but maybe a kitten would have been less maintenance than a full-grown tiger?
Despite their luxurious, extravagant, and exotic wedding, things began to crumble just as quickly
as they heated up. It seems like it was the pressure of their demanding schedules and
Brand's loathing of life in the public eye that resulted in the dwindling of their relationship.
Talking to Rolling Stone while promoting her multi-platinum, hit-machine record Teenage Dream,
Perry admitted her religious upbringing sometimes caused conflict between herself and Brand.
"I am sensitive to Russell taking the Lord's name in vain and to Lady Gaga
putting a rosary in her mouth," she told the mag. "I think when you put
sex and spirituality in the same bottle and shake it up, bad things happen."
However, despite their differences in faith,
the couple continued to reassure the public that everything was completely hunky-dory.
During a co-hosting stint on "Live With Regis and Kelly," Brand shared he and his
wife were happier than ever, despite all ongoing split rumors but confessed that
the constant attention from the paparazzi and the media did put stress on their relationship.
Appearing on "The Ellen DeGeneres Show" to tout the end of her successful California Dreams Tour,
Perry told DeGeneres she wanted kids with Russell.
"I would love to have children. I think that's one of the reasons you get married,
and especially to the person that you marry. You think,
'Hmmm, that person is going to be a good partner, a good parent,'"
However, she also admitted that she didn't think it was the right time for kids.
During the sit-down, she admitted that she and Brand worked hard to
see each other while she was on tour but that it was often a challenge.
Before any of us knew what was really going on behind the scenes, at the American Music Awards,
Katy was forced to respond to tabloids claiming she was sporting a small baby bump under her pink
dress, telling Hollyscoop, "Hell no!" when asked if children were in her near future.
Just days after the pregnancy, rumors started to die down, new allegations of the couple's split
started to surface, forcing Perry to take to Twitter to deny the divorce rumblings.
"First I'm pregnant & then I'm divorced. What am I 'All My Children'?!"
Then, it was Russell's turn to address the rumors when he visited "Ellen" a little later.
He also denied any rumors of a breakup, stating,
"I've treated the whole Internet now like it's a wicked little liar. Yeah. I am really happily
married. I'm married to Katy. Perpetually, until death do us part was the pledge."
However, just a few months after that interview, Katy was spotted splashing
around in the ocean in Hawaii without Russell and not wearing her wedding ring. Just days later,
Brand's ring finger was bare when photographers caught him out walking in London.
So … until death do they part? Fans didn't think so.
It was clear that whatever was going on was a lot messier than the couple wanted to let on.
At the end of 2011, Brand filed for divorce from Perry,
citing "irreconcilable differences." No separation date was given,
and representatives for Brand and Perry weren’t talking. It was alleged that the comedian had
sent Katy a text message as a "heads up," letting her know he would be filing for divorce.
Shortly after their divorce, Russell appeared on The Howard Stern Show and talked about his
marriage. "We did work it out, she's happy, I'm happy. I was really, really in love with her,
but it was difficult to see each other, it mostly didn't work for practical reasons."
Speaking to Vogue in 2013, Katy was very careful about what she said when it came
to her failed marriage. She also never referred to her ex-husband by his name,
only as "a magical man." However, she did confess that there were several issues in
the relationship, one of them being that Russell didn't see her as his equal.
"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 equal-ness," she confessed.
"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.
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.
I let go and I was like: This isn't because of me; this is beyond me. So I have moved on from that."
Jokes in Brand's comedy routines were also made at Katy's expense,
and when asked what she thought of his performance, the singer shared,
"Hysterical in some ways. Until he started making jokes about me and he didn't know I was in the
audience, because I had come to surprise him at one of his shows. So. Hysterical to a point."
In the same 2013 Vogue interview, she confirmed she hadn't heard from Brand
in the one and a half years since their divorce. "Let's just say I haven't heard
from him since he texted me saying he was divorcing me. December 31, 2011."
In his 2015 documentary Brand: A Second Coming, Brand is seen as extremely critical of Perry's
fame and media attention. "Oh my fucking God. I'm living this life of the very thing I detest.
Vapid, vacuous celebrity. Fame and power is bullsh*t," he said.
However, by 2017, it seemed that he was singing a different tune about his ex-wife.
"I still feel very warm towards her. I feel like when I hear about her or see her,
'Aw there's that person. There's that person in the world.'"
He also stuck to the story of fame and scheduling being the reason that things didn't work out.
Whatever the reasons were, the split was messy and left both Katy
and Russell pretty heartbroken. However, Katy has moved on, and she's living her happily ever
after with Orlando Bloom and their new bouncing baby girl, Daisy Dove Bloom.