Katy Perry appears to have had the last laugh on ex-husband Russell Brand after he started their divorce by text – scoring a £180million payday as he faces serious allegations about his behaviour with women.
Perry, 38, sold her popular back catalogue to Litmus Music on Monday, landing a fortune for her stakes in master recordings and publishing rights on five of her albums.
The extraordinary windfall could not be in starker contrast to the man she once shared her life with, whose own empire appears to be crumbling.
Brand has been accused of a series of lurid allegations from four women including rape and sexual assault.
He vehemently denies the claims, which were first disclosed by Channel 4’s Dispatches and The Sunday Times.
The pair met on the set of Get Him to the Greek, the Hollywood movie in which Brand had a starring role
Brand has been accused of a series of lurid allegations from four women including rape and sexual assault and vehemently denies the claims
In a now notorious social media incident Brand posted an unflattering picture of Perry on his Twitter page that showed her without a scrap of make-up
Perry has not made any comment on the allegations facing her former husband, but has continued to post unrelated posts on her social media.
Their romance came something of a surprise when it first became public 14 years ago.
The pair met on the set of Get Him to the Greek, the Hollywood movie in which Brand had a starring role.
She had filmed a cameo for the picture and they hit it off immediately – although the scene she was in was ultimately cut.
The couple held a lavish wedding in India at the Ranthambore Tiger Sanctuary in Rajasthan in 2010.
Their marriage was set to be short lived, however, after Brand told the singer he wanted a divorce via text message the following year.
Perry is shown clutching a necklace Brand gave her as she sobs uncontrollably just ahead of a concert in Brazil after struggling with the news.
Speaking in a Vogue interview, the California Gurls singer said she had initially taken ‘a lot of responsibility’ for the split until she ‘found out the real truth.’
Perry said she would keep this ‘truth,’ which she could not ‘necessarily disclose,’ locked in her safe ‘for a rainy day.’
Perry and Brand’s romance came something of a surprise when it first became public 14 years ago
Perry has remained silent on the issue so far but questions have been raised about how much she knew after a 2013 interview with Vogue resurfaced
It has prompted renewed speculation about what secret the singer had been referring to following the divorce.
She said at the time: ‘He’s a very smart man, and I was in love with him when I married him.
‘Let’s just say I haven’t heard from him since he texted me saying he was divorcing me December 31, 2011.’
Perry added: ‘I felt a lot of responsibility for it ending, but then I found out the real truth, which I can’t necessarily disclose because I keep it locked in my safe for a rainy day.
‘I let go and I was like: This isn’t because of me; this is beyond me. So I have moved on from that.’
Brand also appeared to have contempt for Perry’s lifestyle.
Speaking in documentary Brand: A Second Coming in 2015, which was filmed during the couple’s marriage, he said: ‘The stuff in Africa hit me really hard.
‘I’m associated with the very thing I detest: vapid, vacuous, plastic, constructed, mindless celebrity. That’s the very sea we’re swimming in, “Oh, who’s he?” … “He’s married to Katy Perry”.’
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Elsewhere in the film, Brand was also seen mocking his wife in a stand-up routine and admitting to friend Stephen Merchant that he didn’t think their marriage would last.
He told him: ‘It’s definitely good I’m with someone I love.
‘But it’s not a resolution to anything spiritual.’
‘This is my suspicion, that at some point, to be happy, I’m going to have to walk away.’
This was perhaps most evident by his behaviour during their time together.
In a now notorious social media incident he posted an unflattering picture of Perry on his Twitter page that showed her without a scrap of make-up.
In the frame, the Teenage Dream star appears to have just woken up and is sporting a rather startled look.
It was quickly deleted from Brand’s Twitter page in what was taken as a sign of her displeasure at it being published.
Whatever the truth of the matter, it appears the once close pair could not be further apart in their good fortune or otherwise.