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Occasionally celebrity news has the power to usher in a new era: the death of an icon, the break-up of an adored couple … or a bad boy becoming a family man.
According to UK newspaper The Sun, the latter is true for notorious womaniser Russell Brand – the comedian-cum-social-activist, 40, is expecting his first child with on-again-off-again girlfriend of several years Laura Gallacher, 27.
“They have been living as a couple for the last six months and are determined to make a go of their relationship,” a ‘friend’ told the publication.
“Russell is absolutely made up” (is ‘made up’ the British way of saying he’s stoked?).
“Most of his closest friends have children and he was desperate to start a family.”
The image of Brand pushing a stroller and changing nappies is jolting for anyone who remembers the ‘old’ Russell – to say he used to sleep around is quite the understatement. The former sex addict, who once spent 30 days at a US rehab facility receiving treatment for his vice, detailed his wildest times in unflinching detail in his tell-all memoirs, My Booky Wook and Booky Wook 2. If you have any doubt he could be classed as the worst celebrity womaniser of all time, take this line:
“At one point I had a harem of about ten women, whom I would rotate – in addition to one-night stands and random casual encounters.”
But Russell’s past is exactly that – the past. He chose monogamy when he married Katy Perry, even if their relationship did sadly deteriorate into their 2011 divorce. Far from living a party hard lifestyle, he’s been sober for a decade and these days is widely recognised as a brilliant intellectual with a social conscience. You’re more likely to find him espousing the benefits of transcendental meditation, penning thought-provoking opinion pieces, making political documentaries and running his #trewlit book club (he shares the book he’s currently reading and invites you to do the same and get involved in a discussion about it using the hashtag).
Russell has made the natural progression from one life stage to the next and it’s about time we all caught up. Just like when eternal bachelor George Clooney walked down the aisle and married human rights lawyer Amal, it’s a shock at first, but soon we’ll be double-tapping pictures of Brand’s spawn on Instagram and thinking nothing of it. Now if Leonardo DiCaprio would just settle down … nah. It’ll never happen.
