Actor and comedian Russell Brand has been charged with two counts of sexual assault and one count each of rape, indecent assault and oral rape against four women, according to the Metropolitan Police.
The charges came after detectives started looking into a series of accusations made in September 2023, which had been published by the Sunday Times and featured in an episode of Channel 4’s Dispatches.
In addition to the oral rape and sexual assault of a woman in Westminster, London in 2004, Brand is accused of raping a woman in the Bournemouth area in 1999.
Additionally, he faces charges of sexually assaulting a woman between 2004 and 2005, and indecently assaulting another woman in 2001, both of which are said to have occurred in Westminster.
The charges may cause difficulties in Brand’s private life as he is married. So who is the comedian’s wife?
Who is Laura Gallacher?
Brand has been married to Laura Gallacher for eight years. The couple had dated briefly before Brand’s first marriage to Katy Perry when he was an up-and-coming comedian. At the time he said he was not interested in monogamy. The pair then reconnected eight years later in 2015 after both had suffered heartache.
Laura, sister to broadcaster Kirsty Gallacher, once told the couple’s story on the podcast Made by Mammas, where she said: “I hadn’t seen Russell for years. He was so different. We both immediately knew it was going to be serious.”
She added: “You have to rebuild your foundations and trust again, we did it the right way. It was very slow, it was getting to know each other and going out on day trips together.”
Laura’s father is the Scottish golfer Bernard Gallacher, who was a Ryder Cup captain for multiple European teams.
She grew up in Surrey on the Wentworth Estate, one of the most exclusive estates in the UK.
Brand and Laura were first introduced in 2007 by her sister, Kirsty.
“We met when she was 19 and I was 30. She fully loves me for what I am,” Brand once told Stylist. “She’s not interested in the famous person at all.”
How the couple reconnected
In 2015, Brand and Laura came across each other in east London.
“My ex had literally moved out of our flat that day and I was heartbroken, with mascara running down my face,” Laura told Grazia.
“A friend dragged me out on a walk to the canal in east London, where I’d never been in my life, and as we came on to the footpath Russell was standing there, like he’d organised it.”
Brand and Laura resumed dating and this time it quickly became serious.
“I remember him saying: ‘I think I want a quiet life and a family,’” and it was exactly what I wanted. So, then it was about seeing if we could build a foundation to make that happen,” she told You.
Russell and Laura tied the knot in August 2017, marrying in a church ceremony near their home in Henley-on-Thames, Oxfordshire. The nuptials were attended by friends and family, as well as daughter Mabel, who was then nine months old.
When was he married to Katy Perry?
Brand was married to Dark Horse singer Katy Perry for almost two years, from October 23, 2010 until their divorce was finalised in 2012.
On April 4, just before being charged by the police, Brand spoke candidly about his relationship with the star, reflecting on his marriage and referred to Perry as an “extraordinary massive star”.
He tweeted on X featuring a video from his Stay Free podcast: “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).”
When I was married to Katy Perry, there wasn’t anything off-key with her, nor was she involved in anything nefarious.
— Russell Brand (@rustyrockets) April 3, 2025
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
Does Russell Brand have children?
The couple have three children. Their first was Mabel in 2016, followed by another girl, Peggy, in 2018 and a son in 2023.
The pair don’t share updates about their children frequently on social media but around the time Mabel was born Brand said he loved being a father .
Taking part in the show Megyn Kelly Today at the time, he told host Megyn Kelly: “She's so beautiful and so glorious and so full of joy and love.”
He did, however, add in a little joke that his daughter was a “vicious, vindictive, villainous little character” who kept pulling at his chest hairs.
