Why did Russell Brand and Katy Perry’s marriage end?

Sexual assault and abuse allegations against actor and comedian Russell Brand have the public reanalyzing Katy Perry’s comments after their divorce. According to BBC, the allegations were reported on Saturday in a joint investigation performed by the The Times and Channel 4’s Dispatches. The outlet published an article containing the claims the same day the documentary on the subject, Russell Brand – In Plain Sight, aired on TV.

With this new information, the public is looking back on comments Perry has made in the past, and people are starting to put the pieces together. 

Warning: This article contains content that may be disturbing to some readers. 

The allegations against Russell Brand

BBC shared that four women came forward, accusing Brand of assaulting them between 2006 and 2013. One claims the comedian “raped her against a wall in his Los Angeles home.” Her statement is backed up by medical records from a rape crisis center where she received treatment the same day.

A second woman accused Brand of assaulting her when she was just 16 and he was in his 30s. She shared he called her “the child” during their “emotionally abusive and controlling relationship.” The third woman worked for Brand, and he allegedly threatened her with legal action if she told anyone about the assault. In addition to sexual assault, the fourth woman also claims Brand was physically and emotionally abusive. 

Russell Brand’s response to the accusations

The day before the news went public, Brand released a video on his YouTube channel where he usually rants unintelligibly and shares his bizarre conspiracy theories. This time, he took to his channel to deny the assault accusations, blaming mainstream media and accusing them of forming a narrative and having ulterior motives. 

“These allegations pertain to the time when I was working in the mainstream, when I was in the newspapers all the time when I was in the movies, and as I’ve written about extensively in my books, I was very, very promiscuous. Now, during that time of promiscuity, the relationships I had were absolutely, always consensual.”

For some reason, Brand compares this “coordinated media attack” to how the media responded to Joe Rogen’s spread of misinformation at the peak of the COVID pandemic. He also claims to have witnesses who can dispute these accusations and emphasized that he feels “attacked” by the report. Conveniently, Brand neglects to mention what the media accused him of other than condemning them for making “serious criminal allegations” against him. 

Russell Brand dumped Katy Perry in a text message

Brand and Perry married in 2010 and split just 14 months later. The comedian notoriously ended their relationship in a text message that stated he’d be filing for divorce. To make matters worse, he sent the text moments before she was to perform while on tour. 

They led the public to believe that distance and Perry’s grueling schedule led to their breakup. However, over the years, the pop singer has made several telling comments that may lead us to believe there were more sinister reasons behind their divorce.

Katy Perry told us about Brand’s controlling behavior

Perry has alluded to the real reason behind her divorce. According to Yahoo!, she told Vogue in 2013 that Brand’s insecurity over her success contributed to their split. 

“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.'”

The pop star shared that her ex didn’t like seeing her in charge while on tour, and for this reason, he would rarely join her on the road. Over time, Brand’s contempt for her career grew, which she claimed “was really hurtful, and it was very controlling.”

Perry largely took the blame for the divorce in the public eye. However, she revealed that she learned something about her ex that helped her see the light. In the same Vogue interview, she 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.”

Perhaps this rainy day will arrive sooner, now that several women have come forward with sexual assault accusations against Brand.