Nobody was quite sure whether Laura Brand, Russell Brand’s wife of more than nine years and the mother of his three children, would make the journey from their home in Florida to support him for his recent trial.
asserted
Brand → make → trial
Those who know her didn’t question her support for her husband, nor her faith in his innocence, but they also know her to be intensely publicity-shy.
asserted
her → know → innocence
Yet there she was, at Brand’s side as he arrived for day one of his trial at Southwark Crown Court last month, wearing a chocolate brown trouser suit, sunglasses and trainers.
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he → arrive → suit
In his particular way, Brand told journalists he was feeling “blessed” that morning.
asserted
he → tell → journalists
Laura, in her way, said nothing, and she maintained her silence when she arrived at court with him on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays throughout the trial, before returning with him in the evening to their accommodation near Waterloo station, and broadcasting with him on their YouTube channel at weekends.
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she → say → weekends
If there was a message, it was that she intended to stand by her husband.
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she → be → husband
A penny for Laura Brand’s thoughts today, then, as she heads home from Southwark Crown Court after witnessing her husband being sentenced to 10 years and six months in prison for rape and sexual assault.
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husband → head → rape
When he was found guilty on Thursday (UK time), Laura rocked towards her knees in despair.
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Laura → find → despair
Today, she and Brand had a brief conversation before he was led away by officers.
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he → have → officers
Earlier he’d mouthed “we’ll be OK” to her.
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we → mouth → her
Born Laura Gallacher, she is the youngest child of Bernard Gallacher, the Scottish golf legend and former Ryder Cup captain.
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she → bear → Gallacher
They grew up on the Wentworth Estate in Surrey, UK, surrounded by golf, but also by nature.
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They → grow → nature
Laura and Kirsty are close, but the age gap – Kirsty is 12 years her senior – meant Laura spent a lot of her childhood alone.
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Laura → mean → childhood
“My parents allowed me a lot of time outside to be creative, like making mud pies or petal perfumes.
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parents → allow → pies
To me, that was a world of magic,” she told London’s The Telegraph in 2022.
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she → tell → 2022
She was an 18-year-old art student when, in 2007, she was introduced to Brand, then 31, who shared an agent with Kirsty.
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who → introduce → Kirsty
The pair met in London after one of his live events, and started a brief relationship.
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pair → meet → relationship
Her father, it has been reported, “begged her to end it”.
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it → report → it
At that time, Brand was hurtling to fame – as a comedian, TV host and notorious tabloid lothario – before he moved to Hollywood and gained greater renown when he married Katy Perry in 2010.
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he → hurtle → 2010
They divorced less than two years later.
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They → divorce → ?
Brand then had dalliances with Geri Halliwell and Jemima Khan, presumably among others, before he re-met Laura – freshly single and working in hospitality – by chance in 2015.
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he → have → 2015
“My ex had literally moved out of our flat that day, and I was heartbroken, with mascara running down my face,” she told Grazia in 2020.
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she → move → 2020
“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.”
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he → drag → it
Brand, she told the Made by Mammas podcast
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she → tell → podcast
We both immediately knew it was going to be serious”.
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it → know → ?
She later recalled to You magazine that Brand said: “‘I think I want a quiet life and a family.’
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I → recall → life
And it was exactly what I wanted.
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I → want → what
So then it was about seeing if we could build a foundation to make that happen.”
uncertain
that → see → foundation
They married two years later, in a ceremony near Henley-on-Thames attended by Noel Gallagher and Jonathan Ross, among other stars.
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They → marry → stars
The event came a few months after the birth of Mabel, now 10.
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event → come → Mabel
Another daughter, Peggy, now eight, arrived the following year – their son, Herb, was born three years ago.
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son → arrive → ?
Laura took to motherhood.
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Laura → take → motherhood
So much so, in fact, that it inspired a writing career.
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it → inspire → career
In 2020, she published The Joy Journal for Magical Everyday Play, aimed at children.
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she → publish → children
She followed this with The Joy Journal For Grown-ups, aimed at adults, and then Slow Down and Be Here Now, aimed at just about anyone.
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She → follow → anyone
Promoting her books with a handful of interviews, the picture Laura painted of family life at their rural Oxfordshire home – where they had dogs, chickens and more than a dozen cats, as well as a narrowboat for weekend cruises – was idyllic, and full of fun and colour.
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they → promote → fun
“We really do have fun together,” she said in one.
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she → have → one
“Sometimes, it can look like I’m dealing with an adult toddler, but Russell’s really into doing the stuff I’m into.”
asserted
I → look → stuff
One journalist who visited the house to meet Laura remembers her as “very warm, but even then – before any [allegations] came out – very guarded about Russell.
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allegations → visit → Russell
I felt like she was quite lonely, shut away in this slightly remote house, wary of publicity and judgement, and quite young”.
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she → feel → publicity
…and 46 more, not listed.
The Aporia
