By Katy Perry’s own admission, her 14 months of married life to Russell Brand was less a whirlwind and more of a “tornado.” However, the winds have died down, and so has Russell’s wild ways. Since 2017, Russell has been a happily married man, having tied the knot with Lauren Brand (née Gallacher). The couple has even started a family together, so here’s what you need to know.
Laura Gallacher
Laura Gallacher, reportedly born on June 28, 1987, dated Russell before they tied the knot. “When we first met we were both in a completely different place,” Laura told the Made by Mammas podcast in August 2019, per the Mirror. Her sister is television presenter and model Kirsty Gallacher.
Laura, a lifestyle blogger, dated Russell in 2006. Nine years later, the two bumped into each other randomly out and about. “I hadn’t seen Russell for years… I came down the steps to the canal and Russell was standing there,” she said. “We both immediately knew it was going to be serious.” Laura said that she had “a deep appreciation and love for this person even though I don’t know this person now. He was so different.”
The two had to “rebuild foundations and trust again,” since he was a divorcee and it had been nearly a decade since they were a couple. “It was very slow, it was getting to know each other and going out on day trips together,” she said.
“Suddenly it went fast, six months later, shall we move in, shall we get a puppy, and then after that I found out I was pregnant. We moved in in November and Valentine’s Day the next year I found out I was pregnant,” she added. Russell and Laura welcomed their first daughter, Mabel, in November 2016. Their second child, daughter Peggy, arrived in July 2018.
The couple married on August 26, 2017, in an intimate ceremony near their home in Henley-on-Thames, England, per Us Weekly. The wedding was held at Remenham Church. Guests included Oasis singer Noel Gallagher, comedian David Baddiel, and British TV host Jonathan Ross.
Katy Perry
While Russell has found wedded bliss with Laura, the same can’t be said about his first marriage to Katy Perry. The couple tied the knot on October 23, 2010, only to divorce 14 months later. “It was the first kind of breaking of my idealistic mind,” Katy in a 2020 interview with 60 Minutes Australia. “I was having great success at 23, 24, and 25 and then I met someone that was interesting and stimulating. It was just like a tornado. Everything happening at once.”
The two began dating after meeting at the 2009 MTVA VMAs. Russell proposed on the following New Year’s Eve while on a trip to India. The couple returned to India for their wedding, but Katy’s career kept them apart. Her 2011 California Dreams world tour took her around the world, and the distance was too much for Russell. He texted his wife on Dec. 31, 2011 – two years after he first proposed – to tell her that he was divorcing her.
“I’ve changed a lot in the last five years,” Russell told Us Weekly in 2017 when reflecting on his past marriage. “I don’t compare my relationships now to previous relationships out of respect to my present wife and to Katy Perry. I think I’m an easier person to be with now. I’m also in a very different situation. I’m dependent on my wife. In relationships, there is always going to be a level of dependency. But I try not to project my problems onto other people and perhaps I’ve not always been like that.”
Since the split, Katy has gone on to find love with Orlando Bloom and start a family with him. She gave birth to their daughter, Daisy Dove Bloom, in 2020.