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A tale of two stars
New Zealand Listener
|September 30 - October 6 2023
Almost 16 years ago, I wrote a review of a memoir written by the English comedian and sometimes film star Russell Brand. The book was scandalous, libidinous and often very funny. Brand discussed his heroin addiction, his sex addiction and his crazed pursuit of fame.
The anecdotes he told were a universe apart from the usual celebrity fare: sordid and full of a piercing insight into the more abject states of the human condition, yet also laugh-inducing. I couldn't tell if he was proud or ashamed of his past ventures, but they seemed to be recounted from a position of personal recovery - he had given up drink and drugs. Nonetheless, I ended the review by wondering "what will become of Russell Brand?"
The answer in the short term was getting leading parts in Hollywood films such as Forgetting Sarah Marshall and Get Him to the Greek. Around the same time, he married (and quickly divorced) the American pop singer Katy Perry, yet soon decided that fame was like "ashes in the mouth".
This story is from the September 30 - October 6 2023 edition of New Zealand Listener.
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