Russell Brand’s wife, Laura, intends to remain loyal to the comedian and is preparing to move back to the UK with their three young children as he begins a lengthy prison sentence, friends say.
The former actor and comedian, 51, faces years in prison after being convicted of raping a fan and sexually assaulting three other women.
Laura is understood to have told friends that she believes her husband is innocent and will continue supporting him while he serves what is expected to be a ‘significant’ sentence.
She and the children are expected to relocate permanently from Florida to Henley-on-Thames in Oxfordshire, where the couple already owns a home.
The couple first met in 2006, when Laura was 19 and Brand was 31.
Brand and his family moved to the United States in 2024 after explosive allegations against him were made in a Channel 4 Dispatches investigation. He was formally charged last April.
Laura, 39, is the daughter of Ryder Cup-winning golfer Bernard Gallacher and the sister of television presenter Kirsty Gallacher. She was the only person to give evidence in person in Brand’s defence and has told friends that, despite the convictions, she remains ‘resolutely loyal’ to him.
An insider told The Sun that Laura had been devastated by the convictions and felt her ‘whole world has collapsed.’
Russell Brand’s wife Laura is standing by the comedian and preparing to return to the UK as he begins a lengthy prison sentence, friends have said
Brand and Laura first met when she was 19 and he was 31. Pictured together in 2007
Days before the trial began, Brand told Laura he feared the possibility of prison during a podcast recorded at their Henley-on-Thames home
The insider said numerous friends had offered Laura their support, while also describing themselves as shocked and feeling ‘betrayed’ by evidence presented during the trial.
A source said: ‘As more details have emerged, particularly the graphic and deeply disturbing allegations made by the women involved, some of Russell’s closest friends have begun questioning everything he previously told them.
‘They feel completely blindsided by him.’
The latest developments come after:
Brand was convicted of raping a 21-year-old fan whom he met after a 2009 stand-up performance at the Hammersmith Apollo.
He was also found guilty of groping an MTV worker at a party in a Soho bar in 2004, but was acquitted of subsequently orally raping her in a toilet.
Jurors convicted Brand of sexually assaulting a Capital Radio worker whom he met in a corridor in 2005, as well as sexually assaulting a Channel 4 employee during a forced massage in 2009.
He was cleared of raping a woman he met at a cabaret show held on the fringes of the 1999 Labour Party conference in Bournemouth. He was also found not guilty of attempting to pull an MTV worker into a toilet to indecently assault her in 2001.
Laura has largely avoided the spotlight since marrying Brand in 2017. However, she has appeared increasingly often alongside him since they launched their Christian YouTube programme five months ago.
In a podcast recorded before the trial, Brand and Laura joked that they were in the UK on ‘vacation’ before saying that ‘the Lord has brought us here’.
Brand introduced Laura as his ‘beloved wife’, while she acknowledged feeling nervous about accompanying him to court.
Laughing, he said: ‘We’re in the UK. Why is that? Just fancied a trip,’ before adding more seriously: ‘The Lord has brought us here.’
Laura replied: ‘I think it’s a vacation, but yes, the Lord has brought us here.’
Brand continued: ‘I’m happy to be in the place where Jesus found me,’ referring to the UK, where he embraced Christianity and was baptised in the River Thames.
Laura said the couple would continue recording their podcast.
‘Our aim is to carry on doing Sunday Service. More than ever, when you’re faced with times of challenge, you have to find your connection with God. Perhaps Sunday Service will be a journey in anchoring ourselves in faith and trust during difficult times,’ she said.
Speaking about their court appearances, Laura added: ‘I got nervous before going to court. I’m not used to getting out of the car and seeing lots of photographers.’
Brand then said: ‘Pray for us if you feel so inclined, and let us know in the chat if there is something we can pray for you about.’
The couple closed their eyes as Brand said: ‘I thank you for my beautiful wife, this mystery woman in yellow, our glorious children and your son, Jesus Christ.’
In 2015, a chance encounter on a canal towpath in east London changed Laura Gallacher’s life.
They married two years later near Henley-on-Thames, with guests including Noel Gallagher and Jonathan Ross.
Brand has frequently spoken about how fortunate he feels to have Laura in his life and has credited her with helping him through difficult periods.
Laura grew up in Wentworth, Surrey, on what is widely considered one of Britain’s most exclusive private estates.
A ‘mummy blogger’ and author of the parenting book The Joy Journal For Magical Everyday Play, Laura has been described by friends as kind-natured. Despite her famous family, she is said to prefer life away from the public eye.
Laura attended court throughout the trial and was the only person to defend Brand in person
Apart from occasional appearances on Brand’s YouTube channel, she has maintained a largely private life and rarely attends red-carpet events.
ALSO READ: Wife Shoots Husband With .38 After Alleged Beating, Police Say
She was 19 and studying art when she first met Brand, who shared an agent with her sister.
The pair began a brief relationship before eventually going their separate ways.
When they reconnected 11 years ago, Gallacher was recovering from the end of a long-term relationship.
She later recalled that a friend persuaded her to leave her flat for a walk along an east London canal, where she unexpectedly encountered Brand.
‘I hadn’t seen Russell for years,’ she said. ‘He was so different. We both immediately knew it was going to be serious.
‘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 on to the footpath, Russell was standing there, like he’d organised it.’
Gallacher later said they both wanted to build a quiet family life together.
Before relocating to the US, the family lived in Oxfordshire.
Speaking previously about their relationship, Laura said: ‘We really do have fun together.
‘Sometimes, it can look like I’m dealing with an adult toddler, but Russell’s really into doing the stuff I’m into.’
Friends have described her as ‘very warm’, while also saying she is fiercely protective of her family’s privacy.
Laura has also become a devout Christian but, until this year, largely kept away from her husband’s online broadcasts.
She previously said of his content: ‘I don’t find it easy, and that’s why I don’t ever really want to be doing any of it.
‘I have so many questions about it, and the exposure it inevitably leads to does expose you to a sort of dark energy.’
The couple launched their Sunday Service programme five months ago, with Brand thanking Laura for remaining by his side.
Smiling, she replied: ‘I must be crazy.’
Brand married pop star Katy Perry in 2010, but the couple divorced two years later.
He also built a successful Hollywood career, appearing in films including Forgetting Sarah Marshall and the Despicable Me franchise.
In recent years, however, allegations concerning his treatment of women came under scrutiny through television and newspaper investigations.
Police arrested Brand in 2023, by which point he had largely shifted his focus towards podcasting and spirituality.
Brand embraced Christianity in 2024 and was baptised in the Thames alongside his friend Bear Grylls.
The born-again Christian went on to regularly record podcasts and YouTube videos. He later launched a programme with Laura, where they often discussed their shared faith, read from the Bible and prayed together.
The couple continued producing Sunday Service even in the days immediately before Brand’s conviction.
On October 11, the day before jury selection, Laura read out a message from a supporter who said God would be with Brand in prison and that he would ‘get through it’.
Brand said he entered court each day wearing the ‘full armour of God’, but interrupted Laura to acknowledge that he was frightened.
Tapping her on the shoulder, he said: ‘I don’t like things where it’s like you might have to go to prison.’
She responded sympathetically: ‘Yeah, I know, but that is just the nature of what a trial is.’
On the final day of the trial, Thursday, Laura was seen crying and holding hands with an aide in the public gallery as the verdicts were delivered.
Brand looked towards his wife and said: ‘Laura, I love you.’
He then loudly answered, ‘Yes, my Lord,’ when he was remanded in custody.
Brand is due to be sentenced on Monday at Southwark Crown Court after being refused bail over the weekend to say goodbye to Laura and their children.
Justice Bennathan said: ‘I regret the hardship caused to the children, of course,’ after being told Brand wanted bail so he could explain the convictions to his two daughters and son, aged nine, eight and three.
However, the judge said Brand ‘has considerable resources’, adding: ‘Whatever the good intentions of the family and the defendant today, I think there are substantial grounds to fear he might, in the end, not feel able to come along and face his sentence.’
Brand made OK gestures towards his defence team and repeatedly said, ‘I’m good, I’m good, I’m good,’ before being escorted from the dock.
Rape convictions can carry a life sentence, although standard maximum determinate sentences often reach up to 19 years, depending on the severity of the offence and sentencing guidelines.
Sexual assault convictions carry a maximum sentence of 10 years for each count.
