Laura Gallacher, 36, met her husband Russell Brand after being introduced by her famous sister, Kirsty Gallacher and despite previously splitting, their romance his still blossoming
Comedian Russell Brand and his wife Laura Gallacher have been married since 2017, with her standing by him throughout his scandal. The two first started dating after reportedly meeting through Laura’s sister, Sky Sports presenter Kirsty Gallacher.
There are very few videos of Brand, 49, and his wife Laura together on YouTube but one clip, shared in the midst of the pandemic, shows the illustrator and author giving a tutorial on how to make squishy soap. She smiles and rolls her eyes as her husband makes lewd jokes – putting her head in her hands at one point – and throughout the eight minutes of footage, it’s clear that Laura is a calming influence on the disgraced comedian, and the antidote to his bravado.
At the time they first met, the comedian, then 30, was presenting on Radio 2. However, their relationship did not last long and soon after the former Big Brother’s Big Mouth host moved to Hollywood, then setting off his high-profile first marriage to pop star Katy Perry.
Brand, who previously had well-publicised sex and drug addictions, recalled the initial fling with his now-wife some years later on The Wendy Williams Show, explaining: “We went out with each other, we loved each other very much, but I was [in a phase where] I thought the world was an amusement park made out of orgasms.”
However, back in 2015 both Laura and Brand rekindled their relationship following a chance encounter on an East London canal towpath. Laura, in 2020, revealed to Grazia: “My ex had literally moved out of our flat that day and I was heartbroken, with mascara running down my face. 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 onto the footpath Russell was standing there like he’d organised it.”
Despite his very promiscuous past, Laura, who has written wellness books such as The Joy Journal for Magical Everyday Play, realised Brand was the one and sought to take things slow. “I hadn’t seen Russell for years. He was so different. We both immediately knew it was going to be serious,” she explained on the Made by Mammas podcast. “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.”
The pair settled into domestic life, and in 2016, Laura gave birth to their first child Mabel, and the following year the couple were married with rocker Noel Gallagher serving as Brand’s best man. Their second daughter Peggy arrived shortly after and Brand’s transition from nightlife lover to family man was complete as he enjoyed life in their mansion in leafy Henley-on-Thames, Oxfordshire.
“I’ve never had domesticity before,” Brand explained to the Guardian in 2017. “Most of my life has been an extension of the grandiose idea of what glamour would look like if it had to have a kitchen. And I feel sometimes like a refugee in my house with this woman, this calm, beautiful woman, who in the most beautiful way possible doesn’t care about what I do. She’s not interested, in the most delightful way. ‘Oh, that sounds nice.’”
Brand and his wife soon went on to welcome another child. In early 2024, he revealed his youngest child was born with health complications and underwent surgery.
The Despicable Me actor told former Fox News host Tucker Carlson how the sexual assault allegations made against him in September were particularly “hurtful” as his newborn baby was born with a heart condition and needed surgery as the claims became public knowledge.
“My son was born with a heart condition and while this [the allegations being made] was happening he was undergoing heart surgery. He was 12 weeks old and I suppose what that did, Tucker, is it revealed that what we were experiencing was a public concoction,” he said to the host.
Brand then explained why he was bringing up the subject of his son’s health, claiming that the reaction to the documentary about him made him aware of what is “important in life”.
During an explosive Channel 4 Dispatches documentary Russell Brand: In Plain Sight – which was made in conjunction with The Times and Sunday Times – hewas accused of rape, sexual assaults and emotional abuse – which the comedian strongly denies.
Meanwhile, on Friday, London’s Metropolitan Police announced they had charged the 49-year-old with one count of rape, one count of indecent assault, one count of oral rape and two counts of sexual assault.
Taking to social media soon after the allegations against him were made public, Brand issued a statement where he denied rape or non-consensual activity. He also asked his fans to support him as he is expected to appear in court in the UK next month to face the charges made against him.
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