November 04, 2009

Russell Brand Opens Up About Monogamy And Katy Perry

By Jocelyn Vena (MTV.com)

Since they were first seen kissing at a VMA after party two months ago, Katy Perry and Russell Brand have been photographed together all over the world, including at her recent 25th birthday party. But Brand says he wants to keep their relationship as private as he possibly can.

"She's lovely, and I don't want her to read anything about herself," he said in an interview with the Sunday Times in London, adding that whenever he jokes about the situation with reporters, it seems like his words are continually being taken out of context.

"The other day a journalist from a tabloid in a ludicrous fedora said to me, 'Russell, are you in love with Katy?' And I said, 'You look like a character from a Graham Greene novel. I think I'm in love with you.' I said that to defuse the situation," he explained. "But what do they print? They print, 'I think I am in love.' "

In the interview, Brand also opened up about being comfortable with monogamy these days. The comedian has previously admitted to suffering from many addictions, including sex, but he claims to be reformed. "I am living in a different way at the moment. Regardless of what happens in my current situation," he said. "I am unlikely to be satisfied with the calamitous promiscuity of the preceding five or six years."

He went on to say that monogamy is not the only change he's made since getting sober about seven years ago. He's living a much healthier life overall. "I'm living in a disciplined way, do lots of yoga, exercise and transcendental meditation. It's not half good," he said. "They give you a mantra. ... You feel attuned to a consciousness that is beyond your identity and beyond life."

There are still moments in his life as an international celebrity that remind him of the old days, he said.

"When Britney Spears was on the VMAs, between takes, hair and makeup people would come over. We didn't need hair or makeup, it was just like monkeys comforting us, grooming us in a primal way, and I think a lot of my liaisons were just like that, grooming," he explained. "I am trying not to be glib about it. It's not like there's been an endless carousel of strippers and lap dancers, but there have been times when I have been in the company of prostitutes, and they were the most wonderful women in the world."