Katy Perry: Russell Brand told me about divorce via text message

By Nardine Saad

June 18, 2013 11:44 AM PT

Katy Perry is revealing details of her short-lived marriage to British comedian Russell Brand — and they sure are fireworks.

The 28-year-old pop star, who is voicing Smurfette in the upcoming flick “Smurfs 2,” opened up about her relationships with Brand and musician John Mayer in Vogue’s July issue, candidly expressing how hurt she was during her breakups and how she hasn’t heard from Brand in some time.

Her ex-husband Brand, 38, was “a magical man” when she first met him at the MTV Movie Awards in 2009, when he very publicly flirted with the singer. They married in 2010, then decided to divorce 14 months later, citing irreconcilable differences. They reached an amicable divorce settlement in February 2012.

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“He’s a very smart man, and I was in love with him when I married him,” Perry said. “Let’s just say I haven’t heard from him since he texted me saying he was divorcing me December 31, 2011.”

Though the comedian’s special brand of humor has seen him forgiven by many, Perry said the humor began to be lost on her.

“Hysterical in some ways. Until he started making jokes about me and he didn’t know I was in the audience, because I had come to surprise him at one of his shows. So. Hysterical to a point. I mean, 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,” she said, referring to the documentary “Katy Perry: Part of Me.”

“That wasn’t edited to leave footage out — there wasn’t any footage of him.”

“At first when I met him, he wanted an equal, 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,” she continued. “He didn’t like the atmosphere of me being the boss on tour. So that was really hurtful, and it was very controlling, which was upsetting. I felt a lot of responsibility for it ending, but then I found out the real truth, which I can’t necessarily disclose because I keep it locked in my safe for a rainy day. I let go and I was like: This isn’t because of me; this is beyond me. So I have moved on from that.”

Well, good for her, though we’re still wondering what the “real truth” is ...

Perry went on to date fellow crooner Mayer, the go-to rebound guy for women ending their high-profile relationships. Though they are no longer dating, it turns out he wasn’t a rebound or “revenge” guy at all.

“No, not at all. No, I was madly in love with him. I still am madly in love with him,” she said of Mayer, whom she dated for a few months. “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.”

Perry apparently “can drive like James Bond” in her rented Maserati and could keep up with Brand “because of the quick-fire slapstick/deadpan, adult/childish wisecracking and point-scoring,” writes Vogue’s Vicki Woods.

The singer let Woods hear her new song about “broken birds” and another tune, a raw recording of an experimental track she’s calling “Bad Photographs.” Both of them are about breakups: the former is about Mayer, while the latter seems to be about Brand.

“I titled it ‘Bad Photographs’ because the idea is that when people are in a relationship they only take photographs when they are happy, and sometimes when it ends you realize maybe it would be important to take photographs when it’s not happy. So I have this idea,” she said, then played these lyrics: “Looking back we should have taken photographs ... of all the unhappiness ... coz now my mind’s playing tricks on me ... I forget we are not meant to be.”

The Santa Barbara native also revealed that as a child her family moved around a lot, she didn’t get to go to school much and was beaten by her parents. Even now she admits she still has “a problem reading.”

Perry, who has a penchant for zany costumes and wild makeup, was photographed by Annie Leibovitz for the feature, wearing stunning floral gowns and barely-there makeup. She also told the fashion codex (in this “getting ready” video) that she started dyeing her red hair to black when she was 15.

“I’m not in a relationship, I’m just on my own — I am myself in my own bed,” she said. “I have to be happy being alone, and I am happy ... I believe that I will be loved again, in the right way ... I know I’m worth it.”

A broken bird herself, perhaps.