Russell Brand Compares Rape Trial Coverage to a ‘Football Match’ in Pre-Recorded Video as His Wife Says He’s ‘Okay’ and ‘Praying’ Post-Sentencing

Russell Brand‘s wife, Laura Gallacher, has spoken about the actor’s 10-year and six-month prison sentence after being convicted of rape and sexual assault following his London criminal trial earlier this month.

The couple both shared remarks in a YouTube video posted Sunday, in which Gallacher speaks about the conviction before continuing to the pre-recorded episode of their “Sunday Service with the Brands” series, which featured Brand.

“We trust God, and we trust His plan, and we trust everything He’s doing right now,” said Gallacher. “Even though it’s painful, and obviously, will take some getting used to for me to even sit here and not have my companion and my person with me. I’m speaking to Russell. He’s okay, and he’s praying, unsurprisingly.”

Later in the episode, filmed during the trial, Brand touched on the news, explaining that the press was covering it as if it was a “football match.”

“So obviously, as I said last week, we’re in the middle of a trial,” he said. “I mean, we don’t really look at coverage, but someone showed me some of the coverage the other day from people that were actually broadly supportive. But I know that’s not generally how it’s being covered in the mainstream media, and you can draw your own conclusions from that. Although what we’ll say is, it’s amazing to watch other people’s coverage of it because they just talk about it like it’s a football match.”

Brand’s wife previously took to the stand to defend the actor during the trial, calling him an “caring and kind,” an “amazing husband” and a “wonderful father.” “I feel very seen by him,” she said, adding: “We have a very honest, frank and clear relationship and marriage… our relationship has always been [about] honesty.”

Gallacher and Brand have been married since 2017 and share three children.