It was a chance meeting on the towpath of a canal in London’s East End where Laura Gallacher’s life changed forever.

Eight years ago, broken-hearted after her relationship ended, a friend coaxed her out of her flat for a walk. There, as she strolled near her home, was Russell Brand – fresh from his own split from American singer Katy Perry.

It was ‘like he’d organised it’ confesses Ms Gallacher, the younger sister of television star Kirsty Gallacher and daughter of golfer Bernard Gallacher, 87, who had actually dated the controversial comedian some years before when she was 18-years-old.

‘I hadn’t seen Russell for years,’ she adds. ‘He was so different. We both immediately knew it was going to be serious.’

Their romance was indeed a whirlwind and they immediately moved into together. ‘Laura was besotted, and she wanted to mend him,’ says a friend.

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Despite her support for her husband, Ms Gallacher (pictured shopping in London in July) set tongues wagging on Saturday when it emerged she had deleted her Instagram account

And perhaps that is why, despite sordid claims of rape and assaulting a 16-year-old school girl, Ms Gallacher is – at least for the time being – standing by her man.

‘What Russell did was firmly in the past, way before he and Laura met.’ added the friend.

‘Of course it isn’t easy but they are determined to get through this.’

Despite her support for her husband, Ms Gallacher set tongues wagging on Saturday when it emerged she had deleted her Instagram account.

Meanwhile, big sister Kirsty, 47, was very busy on hers. She very publicly backed her brother-in-law – and showed support for her younger sibling – when she re-posted the video along with a giant red love heart emoji – before removing it shortly after the full extent of the allegations were revealed.

She shared the two minute clip where he denied what were described as ‘very serious criminal allegations’ made against him on Instagram.

However, around an hour after the claims were published, the former Sky Sports presenter removed it from her ‘stories’ on the social media platform. While Kirsty has so far refused to comment on the matter, friends say that Kirsty is a very loyal to her sister and enjoys a good relationship with Brand.

Some might be surprised that Brand’s domestic life at his stunning £3 million river-side thatched house near Henley in Oxfordshire, remains fully intact, but those in the know are not. For she is the woman who is well renowned for taming him following years of living as a hellrasing womaniser whose busy and colourful love life was rarely out of the tabloids.

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Gallacher’s sister Kirsty (left) very publicly backed her brother-in-law. She shared Brand’s video denying the ‘very serious allegations’ but deleted the post soon after the full extent of them emerged

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Laura Gallacher (left) with her sister Kirsty (right). Kirsty posted the video along with a love heart emoji of support for her sister on Instagram before removing it

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Gallacher is the woman who is well renowned for taming Brand following years of living as a hellrasing womaniser whose busy and colourful love life was rarely out of the tabloids

Ms Gallacher, 36, a ‘mummy blogger’ and author of parenting book, The Joy Journal For Magical Everyday Play, is said to be ‘kind natured’ and despite coming from a high profile family, happy to stay out of the limelight.

Apart from the odd appearance on 48-year-old Brand’s much-watched YouTube channel either making squishy soap or garden baking trays, she keeps her head down. There are no red carpet appearances, and any pictures of the pair are paparazzi shots. She’s the stay-at-home mum who cooks him pesto pasta or frozen pie and chips for dinner and follows him around the world, quietly supporting on his tours.

Since they got together in 2015 there hasn’t even been as much as a rumour that Brand has had any other lovers, proving that Ms Gallacher, currently heavily pregnant with the couple’s third child, helped cure his rampant sex addiction.

That wasn’t her only experience of Brand though. They first met in 2007, when Brand was on Radio 2.

It was through Ms Gallacher’s big sister Kirsty and they dated for a short time while she was a teenage art student. Following their split Brand went off to Hollywood where he won a number of movie roles and perhaps more memorably, married Ms Perry.

Following their split Brand moved back to London where he dated Jemima Goldsmith for a short time.

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Ms Gallacher, 36, a ‘mummy blogger’ and author of parenting book, The Joy Journal For Magical Everyday Play, is said to be ‘kind natured’ and despite coming from a high profile family, happy to stay out of the limelight

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Russell Brand and Laura Gallagher at the British Curry Awards in 2018. The couple have two children, Mabel, six and Peggy, three, and are expecting a third in November

Recalling the moment she was reunited with him, Ms Gallacher: ‘My ex had literally moved out of our flat that day and I was heartbroken, with mascara running down my face. A friend dragged me out on a walk to the canal in east London, where I’d never been in my life, and as we came on to the footpath Russell was standing there, like he’d organised it.’

A year later they had their first child Mabel, six, then arrived Peggy, three and in 2017 they got married. Their third child is due in November.

Ms Gallacher was of course nowhere to be seen when Brand made his two minute video on Friday night when he insisted that the relationships he had were ‘absolutely always consensual.’ adding that he was ‘very, very promiscuous.’

It of course begs the question what the Gallacher family really think of Brand.

‘They are very close and supporting Laura through this,’ said a friend. ‘Russell is going nowhere.’

For now, anyway.