Russell Brand is reflecting on his hot and then cold marriage to Katy Perry.
Following a whirlwind romance, the former couple tied the knot in 2010 before eventually ending their 14-month marriage the following year. Their courtship, marriage and eventual split created a media frenzy amid tabloid culture at the time.
Grylls asked Brand about his prior romance with Perry on Sunday’s episode of Running Wild with Bear Grylls: The Challenge.
“That was when I was most in the public eye and working in America,” the British comedian said, adding that “some aspects of [that time] were amazing.”
Brand – who met Perry not long after his very memorable role in Saving Sarah Marshall – continued: “She’s an amazing person. It was kind of incredible to live for a moment in that eye of the cyclone type aspect of fame.”
He added: “Aside from my sort of feelings of affection for Katy, it’s a time that I remember being a little bit chaotic and a bit for me ... a little disconnected.”
In a July 2013 cover story with Vogue, Perry revealed that Brand was the one who decided to end their marriage when he sent her a text message informing her that he planned to file for divorce.
“He’s a very smart man, and I was in love with him when I married him,” Perry told the magazine at the time. “Let’s just say I haven’t heard from him since he texted me saying he was divorcing me December 31, 2011.”
A clip from Perry’s 2012 documentary, Part of Me, shows the heartbreaking aftermath of Perry receiving this text.
It seems Brand dumped Perry via text right before she was set to perform a New Year’s Eve concert. In the clip, you can see the Fireworks singer laying in her dressing room and looking completely devastated by the news. She ultimately decides to go on stage regardless of her personal anguish and cries as she walks to the stage before plastering on a smile to greet the audience.
Although the clip from Piece of Me is difficult to watch, Brand and Perry have moved on and seem to have found love with new partners.
The American Idol judge is currently with her fiancé actor Orlando Bloom, with whom she shares a daughter, Daisy Dove.
Brand married his on-and-off girlfriend, Laura Gallacher, in 2017. The couple recently announced that they are expecting their third baby together.