Source : Perth Now news
Russell Brand’s wife has told his rape trial her husband is caring and kind and there is honesty at the centre of their marriage.
Laura Brand told Southwark Crown Court in London the comedian slept with other women when they first dated in 2006 and 2007.
She said they rekindled their romance in 2015, married two years later and now have three children together.
“Russell, my husband, is caring, he is kind, he is a wonderful father to our children,” she told jurors.
“He is an amazingly attentive husband. He has got an eye for detail I’ve never known before.
“The way he treats me is to really know me, I feel very seen by him in every way.
“I love him very much.”
The court heard Brand was introduced to his future wife in August 2006 after her sister arranged tickets for one of Brand’s shows.
She told the court the show was “extremely entertaining,” including “very explicit” material, and afterwards she approached Brand in the foyer to thank him for the tickets.
“He obviously acknowledged my friend, who is very beautiful, and said to my friend, have you got a boyfriend?
“She said, ‘yes, I do’, and he looked at me and said ‘tell me you don’t have a boyfriend’ and I said no.”
Laura Brand said he accepted her wish not to have full sex on their first date, telling the court: “I didn’t intend to, and I don’t remember him asking”.
She said Brand had been “totally caring” and let the relationship progress “totally at my pace”.
She said: “I was not experienced, I had only had one partner before Russell.
“I felt entirely cared for and looked after by Russell.”
Laura Brand said she knew about his reputation before they met – “he liked women” – and she learned while they were dating that he had been having sex with other people.
She said: “I wasn’t interested in having a relationship with him if he was sleeping with other people.
“I was invested, we both had told each other we loved each other, but it was clear it was difficult for him to be monogamous.”
She said they stayed friends as Brand had a brief marriage to US singer Katy Perry, and they got back together as a couple in 2015 and married in 2017.
Asked if she was “aware of his promiscuity” during their time apart, she said: “I was very aware of it. I could read about it regularly in the papers, so I was aware of it and he also told me.”
Turning to their relationship now, she said: “We have a very honest, frank and clear relationship and marriage.
“It is one of the most important parts of our marriage, and our relationship has always been honest.”
During his wife’s evidence, Brand could be seen smiling and laughing at times, and he appeared to be mouthing words towards his wife as she talked about his 2024 baptism.
Earlier, statements from two of Brand’s ex-girlfriends were read to the court as they gave accounts of his character and also said he had cheated on both of them.
Classically trained ballet dancer Elia Alvarez Diaz said their relationship ended because he cheated on her repeatedly, but she also put forward words to support his character.
A second ex-girlfriend, Amanda Alguero Alejos, told the court she met Brand in October 1999 when he was her teacher at the Callan School of English on Oxford Street, central London.
She admitted being “captivated” by Brand, and insisted that they had never had sex without consent.
At the end of Laura Brand’s evidence, jurors were sent away by the judge until Friday morning.
Brand faces claims that he raped and sexually assaulted women over the course of 10 years of his showbiz career.
In evidence on Wednesday, he insisted consent is “non-negotiable” and told jurors it is “more important than sex itself”.
He denies three charges of rape, three counts of sexual assault and one count of attempted indecent assault.
