In August, a rumor started about how Russell Brand would feature his time with Katy Perry in a new documentary. I didn’t believe the story because Rusty seems to have wholly forgotten that brief period in time when he pretended to be monogamous. Still, he has not trashed Katy in public, although she slammed him to the press for a few years and even signed those divorce papers with a happy face.
Rusty’s new documentary is about to drop, and it looks like maybe he does talk about his long-forgotten marriage. Can you believe they were ever together? Even after looking at photos, it seems like a world away. In this trailer for Brand: The Second Coming, Russell says stuff like “Oh my f***ing god. I’m living this life of the very thing I detest. Vapid, vacuous celebrity. Fame and power is bullsh*t.” Now, he could very well be talking about celebrity existence in general. Dude is a bit of a philosopher, but people do think he’s talking about Katy:
Actually, it kinda does sound like he’s referring to the time he briefly went “Hollywood,” which coincides with the year or so that he spent with Katy. At one point in the film, Noel Gallagher of Oasis reportedly discusses what a terrible couple the two made together, and how he knew it wouldn’t last. Is this really necessary? Rusty is doing one of his crazy “social movement” type productions, so I don’t know why he’d want or need to drag Katy. Ah well. Here I am again, defending Katy Perry. These are strange times, indeed.
Photos courtesy of WENN
Come on. He knew who she was when he married her. It’s pretty disingenuous to diss her just because he feels now that marrying into all the Hollywood shit went against his own dubious principles.
When he was “in” and with her, it wasn’t a problem. Loser.
Exactly.
I hate when people do that. It’s not fair.
+1 and he annoys the sh*t out of me.
Agree. He was ALL in at the time.
Into her, hosting the awards shows and Hollywood. When Aurthur bombed I think he might have had a realization it wasn’t what he wanted. But he shouldn’t put that on her (if that’s what he’s doing).
PS I loved him in Forgetting Sarah Marshall.
You know. This reminds me of that Brad Pitt comment, where because he said similar things (bored out of mind, was a couch potato – or wait, a ‘damned doughnut,’ tired lame existence blah blah) about the direction of his own life, he was seen by women supporters of ‘poor Jen’ to be trashing her.
Except for one thing he never mentioned her by name.
He said his life at the time was his own fault, due to initiative he was lacking
Why aren’t guys, or people in general, allowed to regret their own lack of inertia or initiative to be better human beings?
Do people have to take great care to never EVER reflect on their own actions and own life, in case Gah forbid, someone shallow and superficial they may have been around or known at the time, isn’t 3rd hand embarrassed in front of her equally shallow superficial ‘friends?’
That’s kind of crazy.
Russell doesn’t say squat about Perry. For all we know she hates the vapid celebrity existence too.
The only reason we know Aniston is as shallow and clueless as she appears is because she made her pr flack raise a public stink at how how upset she was Brad was talking about his own then aimless life.
@Caro – Great comment and great point. There is a double standard there. Women are allowed and at times even expected to divulge on the “ex from hell,” but if a man so much as says he was in a bad place in his life during the time period he was with someone, he’s awful and he’s assumed to be talking sh-t.
I agree with everything you said. I don’t think it’s “trashing” anybody in particular to say you were unhappy where you were at in life. Who you were with at the point might hurt or embarrass the partner from that time because the implication is they weren’t happy with that person, but that’s only once facet of their life at the time. Brand probably knows he got himself caught up in a life he’d always wanted to avoid. Just because part of that or even the catalyst was marrying Perry doesn’t mean he blames her or is bad-mouthing her. Perhaps he was already unhappy and married her because he thought it would change his life for the better. Maybe he wondered if he’d made judgemental assumptions about celebrity and thought he’d give it a try, but it really was something he abhored. Brand has been honest about himself, his flaws, weaknesses, etc. I don’t see anything wrong with expressing that he was miserable. It doesn’t mean Perry is a miserabel person or the sole cause for his strife. He knows he made the decision to be with her. Unless he names her specifically and outright blames her, I don’t assume he’s bashing her at all.
Exactly. Russel’s marriage to Katy was a chapter in his life, why is he not allowed to have thoughts about it? Maybe he was “all in” for the Hollywood life and has come to regret that. How many of us can say we’ve never regretted a decision we were all in for at the time?
Until he comes right out and says something to the effect of “damn that woman, she made my life hell and it’s all her fault” I’m not going to blame him.
Great, great comment from Caro and great follow-up comments from everyone above.
Most of the relationships that I regret were more because of my own behavior during that time in my life than it was due to anyone that I was dating. It happens, you know? Sometimes situational issues, poor decision-making, impulsivity, or just plain immaturity can destroy any potential foundation for a lasting relationship.
@Caro
Did you watch the video? He is clearly, indisputably trashing Katy. It starts with a little girl saying “you’re married to Katy Perry,” and he tells her to shut up about that. Goes on to him talking about how much he hates their shallow, vapid existence, and pans to Katy saying she doesn’t want to give all this up. How can you possibly say it isn’t about her?
@goodnames, I took the ‘shut up about that’ as both a joke and also the fact it was shown during a documentary about how he is striving for more from this life than being remembered for being katy perry’ ex husband. And with regards to the vacuous comment I think he is acknowledging that during the Hollywood years he lost his vision and way and got swept up in media and showbiz rather than the greater good he seems to be chasing now, maybe by acknowledging this himself what he is preaching now seems less hypocritical. I do love Russell though and listened religiously to his radio show since 2006, he feels like an old friend! Also I recommend those radio shows and podcasts to any Russell fan!
He married her to become more famous! So maybe it’s just a rare moment of personal insight.
I don’t know. I’ve been in relationships with people before, thinking that I understood what I was getting into, but once in I realized I had no clue. I think this is basically true of all relationships, you don’t know if it’s gonna fit properly until you try it. I’m probably bias though because I love Russel and loath Katy.
I know she totally duped him by claiming she was actually Mother Teresa who’d faked her own death and became a pop star. Bad form.
I loved them as a couple and it makes me sad to hear he’s being mean to her now.
GlimmerBunny, you’re a kind person. Your posts always show that, and I enjoy reading them.
That’s so nice of you to say. I enjoy your posts a lot too GNAT <3
I understand how you feel but its not like Katy was an angel. As for Russel, it just seems a little too late for all this.
Good for the goose, good for the gander. She was pretty unfair to him following their divorce. Repeatedly. Maybe he’s talking about her now, maybe he isn’t, but it’s nothing she hasn’t done to him.
Oh, like he’s any less vapid and vain than she is.
Lol. So true.
His whole “revolution, stop voting, etc” schtick stinks of self-congratulatory arrogance and conviction that he’s some kind of intellectual genius.
It’s enough to listen to his interviews with political journalists to see that he has mostly no clue what he’s talking about and that he’s more about being provocative and shocking, rather than actually thoughtful about political reform and change.
And his “news” series (Trews?) is so contrived… I get that people are tired of media propaganda and lies, but you go to Russell Brand for your news roundup? May as well watch The Daily Show. Not that I have anything against newstertainment, but if you have a platform to spread knowledge, why not highlight news sources like The Intercept and Democracy Now! where there are actual investigative journalists working hard and taking risks to get real stories out there?
Instead we get sensationalist, celebrity -led news which sounds cool and hipster, but actually does nothing more than entertain.
Val – I generally agree about the Trews: all that Sean Hannity baiting was just too easy and obvious and Rusty going me-me-me. But, in his defence, I will say that he did a great deal to publicise London’s housing crisis/social cleansing/gentrification – more than any news outlet, even the non-mainstream ones. Speak to any of the campaigners in any of the groups, and they won’t hear a word against him.
So it wasn’t *all* bad!
I will also give him credit for the way he’s spoken about addiction. He seems to genuinely want to contribute to making the world a better place… now he just needs to not get in his own way.
So true. I love Rusty, and he has a wicked intelligence. However, he has always been ruled by his trousers. One of his many and varied addictions.
She always looks so pretty when she’s not dressed up like a Lisa Frank sticker.
LOL!
I’m with Noel. I was more familiar with Russell and I honestly thought he must be back on drugs when he was seeing Katy of all people. Chalk and cheese.
Same here. There’s no way this couple should ever have gotten together in the first place.
People make fun of him, but he is actually a very forward, progressive thinker. I like listening to him.
I adore him. He is absolutely progressive in thinking and extremely intelligent. I do not feel that he is referring to Katy Perry. But even if he were, he should be able to reflect on his life just like everyone else.
Me too. I don’t agree with him on some things but I do enjoy listening to him. So he’s wrong sometimes. So what?
I like him a lot too.
Yeah, I love him too! At least he’s trying to find some deeper meaning in his life and acknowledges the vapidity of the Hollywood lifestyle.
I think he’s really intelligent, but also vain. He seems smug and self-righteous at times. His BBC documentary about drugs was great though. He’s a recovering addict, so he had a better insight.
Love Noel! Russell was best man at his wedding 😉
Just from looking at the trailer, it seems it couldn’t be LESS about Katy Perry.
Agreed. Who wants to be constantly called out about their ex? I don’t think either of them are angels and they have both discussed the split publicly from their own points of view.
Yes, and I usually stay far away from fanning the battle of the sexes nonsense, but everyone knows how a mag would be slammed for constantly referring to a woman as some guy’s ex whatever, especially if she had a successful public career beforehand. Let this dude say his piece and then move on with his life.
The trailer doesn’t seem like it’s specifically about her, but I’m kind of apathetic if it is. She spent a lot of time dragging him after the split and he kept his mouth shut about her. If he mentions her in one line in a documentary several years later, so be it.
That’s true. She did make him look bad in that documentary she put out. And vapid and vacuous do describe Katy and her music in my mind. Which is sad because she can do better. Some of the music she made before becoming famous was good. But she sold out and would rather put mega-hits over artistry. There’s nothing more vapid than that.
She got to talk about how much she hated her marriage and then wrote, or rather sort of applied whatever songs were written for her, to their marriage. And he’s *maybe* talking about it for the first time and not specifically about her, but how he sort of lost his ideals in an attempt for Hollywood fame, which he lost, because he made a couple flops after his two big hits. So as obnoxious as he may be, I’m on his side for once. And didn’t they break up because her career was at an all time high and his was losing its footing and he wanted them to start having children? That was the story.
I thought it was because he is a recovering addict and she would not stop “partying”. He didn’t want to be around it, but she would do it anyway and so his choices were join her or be alone. That was what I’d heard and read at the time. He strikes me as someone who values their down time and doesn’t need to be at all the right places at the right times, whereas, Perry strikes me as loving life in the fast lane and not being happy just being home. They both like attention, but in different ways. Their coupling was a disaster in the making. I don’t know what either of them were thinking other than chemistry got the best of them and obviously, they both were unrealistic and made a very bad major decision to get married. I am a bit perterbed with Brand simply because he’s older and he does seem to have a good head on his shoulders. He knew she was not only the “it” pop star, but that she likes to party and be seen. I guess I do hold him a hair more accountable simply because he seems smarter than her and should have known better. Katy doesn’t seem to be the brightest bulb, so I almost give her a pass. If the most popular word to describe her is “vapid”, and you can’t stand vapid, why marry vapid?
There have been lots of rumors on many sites I have seen where people know people who worked on Katy’s tours and said she does drugs, quite often. I think he was done when he realized this. I bet she hid it from him for awhile. No recovering addict wants to be around that.
I read that in a lot of places too and it really rings true.
That said, I think their marriage crumbled for many reasons and none are mutually exclusive. She didn’t want to slow down her career, he was feeling like his career was losing traction, she partied/used and he wanted to be clean, etc. Didn’t they not actually spend much time together before they married? Dumb choice of course but that’s how you land in that situation.
As for “why marry vapid if you hate vapid”, it’s not always easy to spot. Sometimes you have to get to know someone to discover how much or little they have going on in their head. Extremes are easy to spot, but the borderline ones take time, and it’s not something you’re watching for in the first rush of love/lust hormone phase.
I agree with your observation—sometimes it is just not so black and white.
At least he didn’t call her a “nothingburger”?
LOL
Why is everyone picking on Katy this month? Nuns, journalists, ex-husbands…sheesh. Vapid is not a crime, is it?
You forgot Taylor Swift been picking on her too.
I like Katy! I don’t think Brand was being overly nasty to her though.
Yeah, now that you mention it, why is everyone harping on Katy? I wasn’t a fan of hers before but damn, this past month is making me feel sorry for her. And you don’t even really hear so much as a peep from her about this, unlike before, she was way more mouthy. I kind of have a newfound respect for her now, seeing as how she isnt stooping down to anyone’s level even on occasions where she would have been right calling people out (that nothingburger “journalist”)
This documentary was filmed during his marriage, prior to the break-up and people still think he was the poor victim. He was disrespecting his wife with his pals for months before he dumped her. He’s acting so above it, but didn’t have any problems being Hollywood when he had his movie career.
Thank you. Just based on comments she made, she was really hurt by and lashing out at him because of the way he treated her. Like suddenly, he was too good for her and above it all. Everybody blamed Katy for the demise of the relationship but you can’t keep a marriage together when the other person has long checked out.
Also I can’t with his pseudo intellectualism.
@ I Choose Me: That’s exactly what I think about his supposed intellect! I mean, he’s obviously a bright guy but people give him way more credit than he deserves. I’ve read his books and for a while subscribed to his youtube channel, but eventually stopped watching because he contradicted himself a lot and didn’t fully understand a lot of things he ranted about. Like a lot of people today who are lauded “pundits” in popular media, imo.
He was a sober pseudo – intellectual married to a hard partying superstar pop confection. They were a bad combination and the end of that marriage played out in the press on both sides.
He’s a faux-llectual for sure and I think once he saw the groundswell of “WTFs?!” while he was married to her he started getting defensive, which meant slagging her to boost his own fragile ego.
he’s not a pseudo-anything.
he’s quite bright, smart, funny and cute as a bug:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OBA6qlHW8po
(still haven’t forgiven him for marrying that ick)
Exactly this. So many Russell apologists who are so quick to defend him because he’s “so intelligent” . It doesn’t mean he can’t be a prick! There were pics of him wasted, his hand draped around another girl, getting into the same car, while he and KP were married. I don’t know, Katy seemed devastated about their split, so much so, that she couldn’t even help but manifest that in interviews.
Yes, TOM, thanks for pointing this out. Also, for years he was against his friend who shot the footage releasing the documentary, but now that his star has faded, it’s apparently fine to revisit the Katy well.
As others have said above, I hate, hate, hate when people trash their exes. Regardless of what went on in a relationship, can’t people just act with a little grace and maturity, instead of playground name calling and blaming? It’s just cheap.
Don’t get me wrong, I could happily slag off my ex (not very good ex-husband, although good husband/father) but I’ve heard enough of these name-callers to know it would only make me look bad.
To be fair, she openly trashed him several times and may have trashed him even more so it’s hard to feel that bad for her. It’s good gossip but when ex’s spill that much of their dirty laundry it’s just…distasteful in a way. I admire celebrities more who can keep a lid on this type of stuff. I’m not sure he’s talking about her though, the marriage ended several years ago and he could be discussing his forays into acting more than anything else.
Yes, look at Sandra bullock as an example of keeping the lid on. People only like and respect her more for it.
“It’s good gossip but when ex’s spill that much of their dirty laundry it’s just…distasteful in a way. I admire celebrities more who can keep a lid on this type of stuff.”
I was going to write the same thing but I saw you already did. I completely agree. I value and respect people who can do this in real life as well. In an adult relationship, it’s the only right way to handle breakups, in my opinion. Anything else is senseless immaturity.
I’m not a fan of his but I’ll give this a watch. I find him weirdly fascinating, not necessarily in a good way or a bad way.
(Perry and he are as bad as each other if you ask me, both probably knew they shouldn’t be together, and she has in fairness slagged him off a fair bit too)
“Celebrity is vacuous and empty! That’s why I married a woman significantly younger than me who was a pop star and enjoyed the benefit of a career boost in the States and have been a media personality for years!”
Seriously, I don’t understand why this guy gets so much credit for his “political acumen.” He’s got the brains but not enough education or humility that can properly direct it.
Some people enjoy ‘outside the package’. 🙂
I never paid much attention to Russell until I stumbled upon “Russell Brand: End the Drugs War” and I was shocked at how impressed I was. It really changed my personal view on how drugs should be handled, and whether or not drug addicts or drug use should be criminalized. He is intelligent, but I also think he is pretentious and self-important.
If he is bashing Katy Perry, it wouldn’t be the first time. He once said that he “had to think of anyone else” while having sex with her. That was definitely low of him. According to Katy Perry’s interviews, he was controlling and didn’t like her being in a position of authority while she was on tour so he refused to see her while she was touring, and he would make jokes about her to his friends and in public all the time when he didn’t know she was there if she would turn up to try to surprise him.
My guess is she’s not fully innocent, but Russell is probably a difficult person–most addicts are difficult, complicated people in my experience. I’m sure the marriage was no picnic for either of them.
^^ yes, clearly he likes to be controlling. It sounds like it was a verbally & emotionally abusive relationship….when you finally see the light & exit, you are full of rage & self-respect – just as Katy was when they broke up.
That he would bad-mouth her to friends while they were together is also abusive.
Commenters were quick to say that Donnie Wahlberg complaining about Jenny McCarthy, when he knew who she was, sounded like a classic abuser….
Why are we so quick to identify Wahlberg as a potential abuser, yet we don’t do the same with Brand – is it because he presents himself as intelligent & funny? Just like a nice, funny guy like Cosby can be a serial rapist/predator, smart funny guys can also be abusers.
Peach it, justagirl! Preach it!
Russell Brand is saying very important and true things. And, he’s human, so he doesn’t always do it right. And if speaking truth makes him a bad person, sign me up. Most of the Hollywood existence is shallow and vapid. If saying so means he is criticizing his ex, so be it. The point he is making is extremely important, and I appreciate him for it. People need to wake up to the suffering that our shallow and vapid world perpetuates on the majority of the world. Katy Perry’s feelings are so unimportant in that context.
A lot of people say that she was/is too good for him or could have done better, but the truth is that water seeks it’s own level. Remember when Britney Spears was with Kevin Federline and people were horrified that he was a nobody and not good enough for her? Turns out Britney was/is kinda dumb and trashy after all, she just had a really good PR team who did a good job of hiding all that. And look who Katy is with now? I can’t imagine any woman touching John Mayer with a 10 ft. pole especially after that Playboy interview a few years back, and yet, she’s been with him not once but twice. She does not make good choices when it comes to men.
Katy Perry makes questionable choices and is all about her career. Russell Brand is kind of skeezy and also makes questionable choices, but may be running low at the bank so it is time to do something about that. That being said, he is totally right about Hollywood and the vacuousness of the whole thing.
He chose her. Made a big deal about his proposal on talk shows. If he regretted it later, that’s on him.
I give Russell a pass on this one, especially since Katy seems to want to play the oh woe is me victim card when he dumped her and talk endlessly about him. He probably was in the flush of love and didn’t realize she was a vapid woman who uses drugs on the regular. This could happen to a lot of people and has happened(do you know how many times I have heard people who get married quickly and then say I had no idea they’d be like this when we got married?) I don’t get why everyone is being so harsh here, people make mistakes. He probably is more careful now.
I wonder if Katy Perry’s people started the Clinton campaigning stuff as a pre-emptive strike, knowing that she would be portrayed as vacuous/vapid/whatever in a small portion of Brand’s documentary?
He’s no intellectual and no philosopher: he lacks the education, and the knowledge. He’s articulate, I’l give him that, but thinks way too highly of himself and his capabilities.
I always wonder what KP saw in him, I wouldn’t go near him without a full body condom, he creeps me out.
A few things: Russell didn’t make, or even endorse, this movie. This can’t be accurately characterized as HIS vision. Years ago he started doing a documentary about the pursuit of happiness, and later he gave over creative control to the director Ondi Timoner. She decided it should be a film about him and his life. He cooperated with her filming it but when he saw the final cut he decided he didn’t feel comfortable with it and has distanced himself from it.
This doesn’t mean whatever he says in the film is not his real words – of course he said whatever he said. But I see too many people saying things like “He’s using this as a vehicle to trash Katy!” or whatever, and really he’s not using it for anything – it’s not his movie.
Also, I know several people who saw this film and said the footage of (and about) KP is around 5 minutes tops. It’s not the focus. He talks about how he realized at some point during that period that he had become a part of Hollywood and realized how plastic and vapid it all was. He did not say Katy herself was those things. I suppose you could say he was “shading” her by association, but really that’s pretty tame. He has a right to express whatever evolution he went through during that intense period in his life. He shouldn’t have to pretend he didn’t question his values & his lifestyle just because he was married to someone at the time who’s a public figure. Also, if you watch the clip, he’s looking at her adoringly while she says “This is stupid!” and throws a tantrum. He loved her at that time, whether he liked the celebrity lifestyle or not.
This is really just the media trying to drum up some controversy.
Right. When he was with Katy, he was getting into the movie business. He was filming Arthur when they were married. He was talking in a bigger context.
Why are people attacking him? He didn’t make this movie. He doesn’t even endorse it in fact the director said she was disappointed he isn’t cooperative. The thing he said about fame was how he felt it’s his right to say how he feels. He didn’t even mention Katy. Give the guy a break, this is just media made controversy.
As a hardcore Russell stan, I will have no problem if he finally has something to say about her. He has been very, very, very quiet and respectful about that chapter of his life probably more than she deserved given the way she trash talked him. He took the high road for a long time, and I honestly can’t see him suddenly deciding to drag her thru the mud. There’s a difference between talking about what happened in your life and deliberately trying to portray someone in a bad light. Russell is a smarty pants, he has enough sense to understand the reason why being nasty about her would serve no purpose. I’m sure whatever he says will be infinitely more tactful than anything she’s ever said about him.
i saw this at sxsw this past march…and its okay. i havent read through the comments so im not really sure what people commented on the most in regards to this, but he really doesnt talk about her that much at all and its mostly a film about his drug use, and how he’s becoming this enlightened activist.
some parts were really awewsome and felt really personal and encrouaging…and then it gets to a point where its just off the rails. so in regard to katy and celebrity; those elements really do come across as shallow when theyre being paired up with footage about social change and enlightenment.
Katy never misrepresented herself. Just because he’s a smart and witty doesn’t mean he’s not accountable for his decisions.
I think this is tacky and mean, no matter who does it (Taylor Swift, Russell Brand, Brad Pitt, whomever….). It smacks of insecurity if you can’t move onto to a new relationship without dissing your old one to elevate the new, even if the “new relationship” is your identity as an enlightened yoga fan with a guru and serious ideas, unlike your ex, the shallow pop star.
Haven’t we all met recently-divorced people who brag about their new loves mostly by trashing their ex-husbands and wives and saying how much better things are now? I feel like that’s really typical of folks who get married and divorced, married and divorced. The problem is always with the ex and the new love has fixed everything…until the cycle repeats. They never own their agency as grown-ups and always make digs about the ex. You can see it on Dr. Phil several days a week!
In the words of the writer Garrett Keizer, this kind of new life vs. old life talk is like a “man whose enjoyment of steak is enhanced by his contempt for vegetarians.” Russell Brand is just scolding Katy Perry to enhance the high he gets from thinking he’s a serious public intellectual now.
He’s promoting a movie, so a little controversy won’t hurt. At all. And he doesn’t care what Katy Perry thinks.