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There was never any doubt that Russell Brand’s wife Laura would be stoically by his side when he arrived at London’s Southwark Crown Court on Monday.
asserted
he → publish → Monday
Clutching his hand both as the comedian entered and left the swearing in of the jury who will decide whether he is guilty of three counts of rape, three counts of sexual assault, and one count of indecent assault, it showed the world she is standing by her husband of nine years.
asserted
she → clutch → years
Dressed in a chocolate brown trouser suit by American designer Veronica Beard, white trainers and a pair of sunglasses, Laura managed the slightest of smiles as she returned to the chauffeur-driven people carrier outside.
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she → dress → carrier
She is now expected to be back at the court, some 4,500 miles from the new Brand family home, a $2.5million (£1.89million) waterfront house on Florida’s Santa Rosa Beach, throughout her husband’s estimated ten-week trial.
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She → expect → trial
But a long-term associate of the 38-year-old author and illustrator says the decision to support her husband was ‘the only one she would possibly ever make’ for the simple reason that she has never doubted his innocence.
uncertain
she → say → innocence
Those who know her add that Laura’s unwavering loyalty to Brand, 51, has been ‘huge’ as he prepared for the trial which will hear a decade of allegations spanning from 1999 to 2009.
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which → know → 2009
Although the charges pre-date their marriage in 2017, the pair did date briefly in 2007.
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pair → - → 2007
Russell Brand leaves London's Southwark Crown court on the opening day of his trial with his wife of nine years Laura by his side
Brand arrives at court with a Bible in his hand to answer charges of rape, sexual assault and indecent assault
‘
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Brand → leave → rape
What Russell is being accused of was long before he and Laura got back together,’ says an associate.
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associate → accuse → What
‘It isn’t going to be easy, but they are determined to get through this.
‘Laura is absolutely besotted with Russell, she always has been.
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she → go → Russell
While Laura wasn’t with Brand yesterday – I’m reminded she has three children to care for – she is expected to make several more journeys to Southwark in the coming weeks.
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she → remind → weeks
It is understood the couple are staying in the Home Counties and will be spending time with her parents.
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couple → understand → parents
Laura, daughter of the Ryder Cup-winning golfer Bernard Gallacher and his wife Lesley, grew up with her elder sister, sports presenter Kirsty, and brother Jamie, an amateur golfer, in a six-bedroom mansion on the exclusive Wentworth Estate in Virginia Water, Surrey.
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Laura → win → Water
Her neighbours included the late Sir Bruce Forsyth and Sir Cliff Richard, while she was educated at the £45,000-a-year St George’s School in Ascot where Princess Beatrice was one of her contemporaries.
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Beatrice → include → contemporaries
Laura went on to study art at university before entering the restaurant industry where she worked on the opening of Electric Diner, owned by the Soho House group, on Portobello Road in Notting Hill.
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she → go → Hill
But that all changed in 2015 when Laura, then in her late 20s and heartbroken following a split from a boyfriend, was encouraged by a friend to go for a walk near the Grand Union canal in east London close to where she lived.
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she → change → London
Brand with Laura, the daughter of a golf legend, as they go shopping in Hampstead in 2009
For Laura, it was a sliding doors moment.
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it → go → Laura
As she strolled along the towpath, she bumped into Brand who was also single and nursing a broken heart following his split from US pop singer Katy Perry.
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who → stroll → Perry
Brand instantly recognised Laura – because it wasn’t the first time they’d met.
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they → recognise → Laura
Back in 2007, she’d briefly dated Brand while she was a 19-year-old art student.
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she → date → Brand
At the time Brand was hugely successful – hosting his own Radio 2 show, presenting reality show Big Brother’s Big Mouth plus its spin-off special Big Brother: According to Russell Brand and touring the UK with his stand-up show, Russell Brand: Only Joking.
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Brand → host → show
At the time, Laura was one of many women to be romanced by Brand: he had also dated Rod Stewart’s daughter Kimberly, Big Brother star Imogen Thomas and Georgina Baillie, granddaughter of Fawlty Towers star Andrew Sachs, about whom Brand made lewd remarks in a prank phone call on his Radio 2 show with Jonathan Ross.
But their reunion came at a time when Brand, who was approaching 40, was yearning to settle down and marry again after splitting with Katy in 2011.
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who → romance → 2011
‘My ex had literally moved out of our flat that day, and I was heartbroken, with mascara running down my face,’ Laura told Grazia five years after their chance meeting.
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Laura → move → meeting
‘As we came onto the footpath, Russell was standing there.
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Russell → come → footpath
It was like he’d organised it.
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he → organise → it
I hadn’t seen him for years.
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I → see → years
We both immediately knew it was going to be serious.’
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it → know → ?
They rekindled their romance, moving in together almost immediately.
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They → rekindle → romance
Brand with his ex, US pop singer Katy Perry, who he dated for two years before the couple spilt in 2011
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couple → date → 2011
‘Laura was besotted with Russell,’ a friend told me.
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friend → besotte → me
‘She wanted to mend him.
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She → want → him
She had known him all of those years back when he was the man to date, but by the time she met him again he had been through the mill with Katy Perry.’
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he → know → Perry
Laura is the woman who, sources claim, tamed him after years as a drug-taking, hell-raising lothario who boasted of having bedded 1,000 women.
uncertain
who → claim → women
‘He was over that by the time he met Laura, way past it all,’ says a former friend.
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friend → meet → it
‘There were never any rumours about his love life after they began their relationship.’
Brand and Laura wasted little time setting up their life together.
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Brand → be → life
Their first child, Mabel, now nine, came along a year after they met.
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they → come → ?
Then, in 2017, they married at Remenham Church near their home in Henley-on-Thames, joined by famous guests such Jonathan Ross, Noel Gallagher and David Baddiel.
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they → marry → guests
The newlyweds welcomed daughter Peggy a year later and their son Herb in 2023.
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newlyweds → welcome → 2023
Meanwhile, Laura gave up her career in hospitality and began writing books.
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Laura → give → books
In 2020, she published The Joy Journal for Magical Everyday Play for children.
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she → publish → children
…and 30 more, not listed.
The Aporia
