A text message? Seriously, Russell Brand?
Katy Perry’s first Vogue cover for the July 2013 issue not only has a gorgeous photo spread, but also (and perhaps more interestingly) quite a revealing interview. She and her ex-husband have largely stayed mum about their breakup—he posted a video on YouTube in which he dramatically removed his wedding ring, but otherwise they got the divorce over with quickly and cleanly—but now Katy has opened up a little about what went on out of sight of both the public eye and the cameras of her documentary, Katy Perry: Part of Me. Here’s the dish:
“[Russell is] a very smart man, and I was in love with him when I married him,” she tells Vogue’s Vicki Woods. But of course it wasn’t all rainbows and sunshine (no relationship ever is); remember that time he Tweeted out a photo of Katy sans makeup while she was just waking up in the morning, only to delete it later on? It looks like this is sort of indicative of what being in a relationship with Russell Brand is like. Katy notes that he’s “hysterical in some ways”—but only to a point. That point? “[When] he started making jokes about me and he didn’t know I was in the audience, because I had come to surprise hm at one of his shows. So. Hysterical to a point.” She goes on to say, I have to claim my own responsibility in things. I do admit that I was on the road a lot. Although I invited him time and time again, and I tried to come home as much as I possibly could. You saw that in the movie.” The lack of Russell in the film “wasn’t edited to leave footage out—there wasn’t any footage of him.”
And here’s the kicker: About whether or not she’s had any contact with him since they split up, she simply says. “Let’s just say I haven’t heard from him since he texted me saying he was divorcing me December 31, 2011.”
Um… yikes.
Yes, long-distance relationships are hard, and yes, sometimes it can be almost impossible to save difficult conversations for when you’re in the same room together. Moreover, it’s debatable about whether there are really “good” ways to break up with anyone—I’m of the school of thought that there are mostly just ways that hurt more and ways that hurt less—and over distance, it’s even harder to find a “good” way to do it. But a text? Seriously? Texting is pretty much never an acceptable way to break up with someone unless you’ve only been on a couple of dates with them, and when you’re far away from someone? Come on. It’s a cope-out that allows you to hide behind technology with a short, quippy message that doesn’t actually communicate a whole lot. If you’re divorcing someone, AND you’re doing it over distance, this kind of message warrants at least a phone call or a Skype chat or something. Even email might be doable if you use it to take the time to explain what your thoughts are behind this major, major decision—and keeps the door open for the other person to respond. I expected better of you, Russell.
To be fair, they’re probably both at fault here; while I feel for her about the text message thing, Katy comes across as a little holier-than-thou at the same time: “At first when I met him, he wanted an equal,” she says, “and I think a lot of times strong men do want an equal, but then they get that equal and they’re like, I can’t handle the equalness.” Then again, there’s also still a lot we don’t know about the whole thing—and probably never will know, and don’t really need to know—so the jury’s still out on this one.
Oh, but for the curious, Katy also confirmed that her relationship with John Mayer is over, by the way. When asked if it was a “revenge” relationship, she says, “No, not at all. No, I was madly in love with him. I still am madly in love with him. All I can say about that relationship is that he’s got a beautiful mind. Beautiful mind, tortured soul. I do have to figure out why I am attracted to these broken birds.” Interesting. We wish you well as you do your soul searching, Katy.
Check out the whole interview (and see all the gorgeous shots from the photo spread) over at Vogue’s website.
Tell us: Have you ever been broken up with through text message?
Lucia Peters is BettyConfidential’s senior editor.