Inside Russell Brand’s crisis-hit marriage to wife Laura Gallacher who he met at 19 & why she’s ‘standing by him’
SHE’S the wholesome mum-fluencer who has found herself at the centre of a media storm as her husband Russell Brand is accused of rape, sexual assault and abuse.
Now it’s reported that Laura Gallacher, 36, is – for now – standing by her man in the wake of allegations from four women and claims that others have since come forward.
Brand, 48, has vehemently denied all of the claims made in a combined investigation by The Times, The Sunday Times and Channel 4’s Dispatches.
A friend of the couple told the Mail of their marriage: “What Russell did was firmly in the past, way before he and Laura met… Of course, it isn’t easy but they are determined to get through this.”
However, experts have now warned that publicity-shy Laura – who is pregnant with the couple’s third child – must act decisively to protect herself and her family, with her own career caught in the crossfire.
The 36-year-old has taken down her social media account The Joy Journal – named after a book that built her reputation as a wellness and parenting blogger.
PR expert Carla Speight says the accusations “risk causing huge harm to a brand she worked hard to build” as she is forced to cut herself off from fans.
She added: “These allegations will have left her wide open to trolls and I’m sure her DMs would not have been nice over the weekend.
“However, it’s not for her to speak on behalf of her husband. Russell is on trial, not her. She has to protect herself for her own wellbeing and to look after their children.”
Laura was first introduced to Brand back in 2007, when she was 19 years old and he was 30, by her sister Kirsty Gallacher, who previously worked for Sky Sports.
They dated for a brief period before the comedian jetted off to Hollywood to kickstart his film career, where he would star in films including Arthur and Get Him To The Greek.
Laura reunited with Brand back in 2015 after a chance encounter while taking a walk with a friend following a break-up.
In 2020, she told 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.”
At the time the couple got back together, a friend claimed Laura was “besotted” with Brand and “wanted to mend him”.
TV psychologist Jo Hemmings believes this is the crucial clue in understanding why – in a move that has left many of her fans stunned – she is still standing by her husband.
Jo tells us: “If that was one of her goals, she appears to have done that to some degree.
“She probably thinks she has mended him – if that is what she set out to do – and that he is a different character now.”
Jo adds: “I think, the reunion came about at a point when he needed to reinvent himself. His star was not quite so bright as it had been.
“That whole quirky, eccentric, sexual banter had lost its glitz and he wasn’t on the telly as much.
“I think he felt he needed to reinvent the old Russell Brand and there she was.
“She was someone he could have considered a future with before but back then he was too wild.”
‘Very concerned’
One year after reuniting, Brand proposed to Laura and she gave birth to their first daughter Mabel in November 2016.
They tied the knot in an intimate service at Remenham Church, near Henley-on-Thames, Oxfordshire, in August 2017 and welcomed their second daughter, Peggy, a year later.
Unlike Brand and her TV presenter sister Kirsty, Laura largely shuns the limelight and has made only a few appearances in her husband’s videos.
In 2016, the comedian revealed she was “not interested” in him being a “famous person at all” and he had “given up trying to make her interested”.
He told Stylist magazine: “She fully loves me for what I am… A lot of people I’ve been out with like the ‘wildman’ stuff, but she thinks I’m a sweet, spindly little twit in the house.”
Jo tells us: “Now that the story is gathering pace, I imagine Laura would be very concerned.
“She is pregnant with his third child and I suspect will stand by him. Behind the scenes things I’m sure things are being said.
“These women have nothing to gain – there is nothing financially nor any fame or notoriety they can gain while they are anonymous. I imagine Laura is feeling extremely disquieted.”