The Sun columnist last night recalled how the shamed comedian was “thrilled” by the moniker.

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Russell Brand and Katy Perry at a premier during their marriageCredit: Getty

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Brand featured on Piers Morgan’s Life Stories in 2011Credit: Rex
During the interview Morgan offered Brand an insight into conversations he’d had with his popstar ex-wife.

Perry, now 38, dubbed her ex-husband Rasputin – famed as “Russia’s greatest love machine”.

Rasputin, whose name is Russian for “debauched one”, was renowned for seducing women.

He had major influence in the Russian court in the 1900s, when he was said to have helped heal the royal family’s haemophiliac son.

Morgan later told Brand his ex had given him the label, which the comedian was said to be “thrilled” about.

Perry’s 14-month marriage to Brand broke down in 2012, a time Brand has previously called “chaotic”.

‘THE TRUTH’

The columnist said he’d tried to interview Perry in 2013 at a Vanity Fair party in Washington DC.

The star had said she wasn’t ready yet, before adding: “Because you’ll get the truth out of me, and I’m just not ready to tell you the truth. In fact, I’m not sure I’m ready to admit the truth to myself.

“You Brits are all the same, so damn confident… Trouble is, I find that irresistible. I love Brits… Well, not all of them – not Rasputin, obviously.”

Perry has never spoken out about why the marriage ended.

Perry told Vogue earlier in the month: “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.”

Morgan told how Brand was thrilled when he discovered the nickname.

Brand had said: “He was a pretty powerful bloke, he could manipulate folk with his eyes.

“I like Rasputin… he was all right, wasn’t he… a mad monk with magical, mystical powers, having it off with everyone, drinking and getting into fights.”

Rasputin, who allegedly had healing talents, was invited into the royal court in St. Petersburg in 1905, when high society was interested in mysticism.

Some two years later he was summoned to the palace of Tsar Nicholas II and Czarina Alexandra when their son, who had haemophilia, was uncontrollably bleeding.

He was said to have eased the child’s suffering.

Rasputin then claimed that the futures of both the child and the dynasty were linked to him.

Outside of court Rasputin preached that sex with him had healing affect.

The tsar refused to believe any of his accusers and they were transferred to remote regions of the empire.

He was expelled in 1911 but welcomed back by Alexandra just months later and any further allegations were ignored.

He was rumoured to be Alexandra’s lover and effectively ruled the country when Nicholas left to lead the forces in World War I.

He was assassinated in 1916.

It comes as four women accused Brand of rape and sexual assault in the period between 2006 and 2013 – at the height of his fame.

The women spoke to The Times, Sunday Times and Channel 4’s Dispatches as part of a joint probe into the allegations.

On Monday another woman came forward to The Sun and alleged Brand stalked her down the street demanding sex.

Brand, 48, denies all of the allegations, insisting his sexual relationships were always consensual.

Meanwhile, Fearne Cotton has unfollowed Brand on Instagram despite calling his wife Laura her “best mate”.

And Lorraine Kelly has recalled how Brand called her a “slut” during an “uncomfortable” 2007 appearance on The Graham Norton Show.

She said: “I interviewed him a lot over that time when he was in the public eye.

“I usually got the charming Russell the flirty Russell but I have been doing this a long time and I would like to think there was a tiny bit of respect there, maybe. Although this happened.”

She then played a clip of her and Brand on the show where he is seen touching her leg.

He then said: “Oh my god, you’re wearing suspenders. I have been in other films but none of that matters now I know Lorraine Kelly is a s**t.”

YouTube suspended adverts on Brand’s channel following the allegations – for “violating our Creator Responsibility policy” – potentially losing him £1 million a year in earnings.

The BBC and Channel 4 also revealed they had pulled episodes and podcasts the 48-year-old appeared in from their sites.

Episodes of Big Brother, Bake Off and QI have been ripped down years after they were first uploaded.

In one Bake Off episode, Brand joked about his drug use.

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Perry’s 14-month marriage to Brand broke down in 2012, a time Brand has previously called ‘chaotic’Credit: Getty

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Piers recalls interviewing Brand and asking him whether he was a ‘sexual predator’Credit: Rex

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Piers was interviewing Brand for GQ magazine in a London café in 2006Credit: Getty