‘I’m a Brand new person,’ says drug-free Russell

WHEN he first shot to fame, Russell Brand was known for his outrageous behaviour, serial womanising and battles with addiction.

But the comedian-turned-political activist, 42, has swapped his hedonistic lifestyle for a more low-key existence with wife Laura Gallacher, 30, pictured left, and their 18month-old daughter Mabel.

Now in an interview with Balance, Brand has revealed that he’s more content since he swapped ‘decadent activity’ for the quiet life, but finds it more taxing.

Brand said: ‘I feel happier living with a person, having to pick up dog poo and change nappies than I ever did being involved in more decadent activity.

‘It’s tiring picking up poo and being more ordinary and real, but it’s a relief. It feels connected and purposeful.’

Brand has been sober after checking into rehab in 2002 when he was told that he would be ‘dead, or in prison, or in a lunatic asylum’ within six months if he didn’t stop taking drugs.

He now lives in a £3.5million (€4million) house in affluent Henley-on-Thames in Oxfordshire with Laura, who he married in August 2017, and their young daughter.

The more subdued life he leads now is worlds away from the larger-than-life character that exploded onto TV screens over 15 years ago.

He successfully tackled his drug issues following more than a dozen brushes with the law, amongst them a high-profile arrest for stripping off during an anti-capitalist protest in London’s teeming Piccadilly Circus.

Brand believes if he hadn’t acted when he did, he would no longer be alive.