Russell Brand Says He Has 'Nothing But Respect' For Katy Perry - Whom He Divorced Over Text Message

Well, this is pretty horrible timing for Katy Perry. But hey, so was that text message, right?

The day before Russell Brand was hit with actual rape charges after years of whispers and then loud allegations, he made sure he was going to be make headlines again anyway. He brought up his ex-wife.

On Thursday’s episode of his now-ironically titled Stay Free podcast, he answered some fans’ longstanding questions about his marriage to the Roar singer. He explained:

“What can I tell you is, when I was married to Katy Perry, she’s like a — not entirely normal, because she’s an extraordinary, massive star — but she’s not weird or off key.”

Um, what? Where the heck was he going with this? We didn’t get it until he said she “wasn’t involved in anything nefarious, as far as I could tell.”

Oh, right. Once sexual assault allegations started to surface, he really slipped right into that right-wing conspiracy theorist grift pipeline. And that includes saying everyone in Hollywood is part of some cabal that drinks the blood of babies for adrenochrome or whatever. And he’s being magnanimous enough to say his ex-wife wasn’t into that… as far as he knew. How generous.

He went on to say he didn’t leave her over any of that stuff, nor over politics, explaining:

“I obviously disagree with her political views, but I probably disagree with some of my wife’s political views, my beloved wife, Laura Brand’s political views. So, you know, you always disagree with people, don’t ya?”

We mean, did he and Katy even have different political leanings at that point? In any case, he made clear to listeners he and the pop star broke up for “normal” reasons:

“The reasons that a marriage didn’t work are the normal human reasons marriages don’t work, and I have nothing but respect for her.”

When I was married to Katy Perry, there wasn’t anything off-key with her, nor was she involved in anything nefarious.

Our marriage didn’t work out for normal, human reasons. I have nothing but respect for her!

(Plus, my daughters LOVE Katy Perry) pic.twitter.com/QwVyIKVkjs

— Russell Brand (@rustyrockets) April 3, 2025

Sorry… does he mean “normal human reasons” like rampant cheating and inability of a man to do meet his wife halfway? That is, unfortunately, pretty normal. What isn’t, of course, is dumping your wife via text message. Which is what he did.

He says he has “nothing but respect” for Katy, but the way he ended their marriage is one of the most disrespectful and cowardly moves of all time. On New Year’s Eve in 2011, he sent her a text dumping her and telling her he was filing for divorce. ON NEW YEAR’S EVE! People get depressed when they can’t get a kiss at midnight, this man gave his wife notice of divorce! Just the worst…

The whole thing was caught on camera, too! Katy was in her California Dreams tour and being filmed constantly. The moment she collapsed in grief at being dumped… while backstage before her concert… can be seen in the documentary Katy Perry: Part of Me. But sure, tell us you respect her anyway…

As for Katy’s version of events? She may not have been into “anything nefarious” but she certainly makes it sound like Russell was! She told Vogue in 2013:

“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.”

Not only did she imply he was up to deeds so dark she couldn’t share them publicly, we learned later she had a nickname for him: Rasputin! She started referring to him as the Russian “Mad Monk” who seduced powerful people for personal gain.

But he respects her now, so it’s all good, we guess.

[Image via Russell Brand/YouTube/Adriana M. Barazza/WENN.]