Russell Brand Reflects on ‘Chaotic’ Marriage to Katy Perry 11 Years After He Divorced Her Via Text

Russell Brand reflected on his infamous marriage to Katy Perry in an unlikely venue this weekend – the latest episode of Running Wild with Bear Grylls: The Challenge. Brand said that his relationship with Perry came at a “chaotic” time in his life, but that he still thinks the singer is “amazing.” For his part, Grylls seemed to encourage Brand to go easy on himself.

Grylls interviews his celebrity guests on Running Wild, often taking advantage of the power of nature to facilitate more open and honest conversations. Sitting in the Scottish highlands, he listened as Brand explained the state of mind he was in when he began dating Perry. He pointed out that he was “didn’t really start making a proper living” as an actor until he was about 30 years old – which would have been just a few years before he and Perry began dating. The two met in 2009 while filming Get Him to the Greek, becoming engaged in just a few months.

“You had to live through so much of that publicly,” Grylls observed. Brand agreed, saying: “That was when I was sort of most in the public eye and working in America… Some aspects of [that time] were amazing.”

As for Perry, Brand said: “She’s an amazing person. It was kind of incredible to live for a moment in that eye of the cyclone type of fame. Asid from my sort of feelings of affection for Katy, it’s a time that I remember as being a little bit chaotic and a bit, for me… a little disconnected.”

Brand and Perry got married just over a year after they met, making international headlines when they opted for a traditional Hindu wedding ceremony in India. Their marriage lasted for about 14 months, and they announced their divorce at the end of 2011. It was a messy split as both tried to control the narrative in the media with little success.

At the time, Perry told reporters that conflicting schedules kept her and Brand apart too often during their marriage, and that he wanted to have children before she was ready. She also revealed that Brand told her he wanted a divorce via text message and that he didn’t speak to her after that. Brand was not much kinder – in a 2015 documentary about his work, he heavily implied that he left Perry because she was unwilling to dedicate herself to activism the same way he wanted to.

Running Wild with Bear Grylls: The Challenge is streaming now on the National Geographic app and wesbsite. The show airs on Sunday nights on the National Geographic Channel. Previous seasons are streaming now on Disney+.