THEIR toxic bromance spanned almost two decades.
and were seen with a string of beautiful women on red carpets, at awards ceremonies and after-parties.
They were the ultimate men about town and notorious womanisers.
Walliams dated , and model Lauren Budd while Brand was linked to Georgina Baillie, actress Teresa Palmer and Spice Girl .
At a time when Britain was still shaking off the shackles of the laddish 90s, the self-confessed sex- addicts enjoyed stellar careers, a circle of famous pals and enviable lifestyles. But it wasn’t enough.
Behind the scenes , while Walliams is now accused of using his celebrity status to prey on star-struck females as young as 15.
It marks the incredible downfall of two of Britain’s most scandalous comics whose careers, relationships, marriages and eventual demise have mirrored each other.
The pair had very different upbringings. Working-class Brand, 51, was raised by a single mum while Walliams, 55, enjoyed a privately educated childhood in Surrey. But both knew they wanted to be famous from a young age.
Walliams, a quiet bullied schoolboy whose effeminate ways earned him the nickname Daphne, realised he could escape teasing by making people laugh. He would later tell how he created a persona that could act as a “smokescreen”.
After working as a writer for , he hit the big time on Little Britain, a show relying on shock value for laughs. Wife , who joked he had stalked her to win her over, called him “a bit mean — in a good way.”
Lara’s comments summed up the public’s unsettled view on Walliams, who once said: “I love cruelty, it’s my favourite thing in the world.”
rooted in childhood and tried to kill himself at scout camp aged 12.
Yet he appears to have little empathy for others.
It emerged that, during a tour of Australia in 2007, he pulled down the trousers of a 16-year-old boy on stage during a skit.
In 2011 he caused outrage on Channel 4’s Chris Moyles’ Quiz Night by saying he would like to carry out a sex act on star , then aged 17.
Footage for a documentary shows him playing Little Britain character Des Kayne, a fictional former children’s entertainer. He calls three volunteers aged 16 to 18 to the stage in a game of “hide the sausage”.
Meanwhile former drug addict Brand was fired from his first job on after turning up dressed as Osama bin Laden the day after the 9/11 attacks in 2001.
after leaving lewd messages for star .
But though they apparently shared a comic outlook, the strutting peacocks were reported to have first viewed each other as competition when they met in the early 2000s.
Both loved to play up their camp personas and were happy to keep up a pretence of ambiguous sexualities. In 2006 Brand interviewed Walliams on his self-titled show, with partner .
When Lucas accused the pair of being the “gayest straight blokes there are”, Walliams looked at Brand and said: “Isn’t it a wonderful smokescreen?”
The Get Him to the Greek actor replied: “Isn’t it though? Isn’t it glorious? It works wonderfully well.”
When the men both finally married, within months in 2010, they were guests at the other’s weddings.
Walliams wed Dutch model Lara, now 42, at Claridges in London, and in a Hindu ceremony in Rajasthan, India.
while Walliams’ marriage lasted five years — and the pair had a son in 2013.
The following year, Brand said he wished he was bisexual — while Walliams once described himself as “Britain’s most famous bi-curious comedian”.
They even shared a kiss during a sketch, ironically titled “Who’s got what it takes to be a national treasure?”
Just four years ago Walliams was a mainstay of British light entertainment as .
It seemed he could do no wrong but behind the showbiz veneer, things were already coming apart at the seams. BGT boss described him as “uncontrollable” and sparring between them became a trademark of the show.
But in 2022, Walliams was forced to quit BGT after derogatory behind-the-scenes comments about contestants — picked up by his microphone during auditions at the London Palladium two years earlier — were leaked.
by swimming the Channel in 2006, and who received the OBE in 2017, all but vanished from our screens.
He decided to take firmer control over his image.
Gone were the days of interviews with UK newspapers and TV, replaced by pre-written Q&A-type pieces to promote his books, including children’s favourites The Boy in a Dress and Grandpa’s Great Escape.
Then, as his BGT blunder started to fade, Walliams was hit by a second scandal when he was dropped by his publisher HarperCollins after they investigated claims of inappropriate behaviour and harassment involving junior staff.
Predator Brand ‘to face new accusers’
By
RAPIST and sex predator Russell Brand is facing fresh allegations after he was caged for ten and a half years.
Cops said several more potential victims have contacted them since Brand, 51, was found guilty of rape and sexual assaults on Thursday,
The Met said detectives are assessing new information received about the disgraced ex-comic.
The force said this includes “potential criminal allegations”.
Brand is already under investigation for two further alleged rapes.
One of the complainants says she was 16 and the former comic was 30 when he attacked her.
Prosecutors are expected to decide within weeks whether to charge him with more offences.
Last week it was reported that Brand is thought to have attacked at least ten more women.
After his sentencing on Monday, ex-partner Jemima Goldsmith accused him of “coercive control and abuse” during their year-long relationship.
She also claimed cops removed him from her home during a “violent incident” in 2014.
Meanwhile Labour deputy leader Lucy Powell has defended the party’s links to Brand in the mid-2010s and then-leader Ed Miliband appearing on his YouTube show in 2015.
She said it took place before Brand’s behaviour was exposed — even though it was years after he was sacked from Radio 2 over lewd answerphone messages
They were allegedly told to work in pairs around the star.
Walliams, who has sold more than 60million books globally, denied all accusations.
This month he faced the final humiliation when Alton Towers shut down its World of David Walliams attraction.
Walliams insists he has broken no law. But the fate of his one-time pal Brand may be playing heavily on his mind.
