Russell Brand has been reading parenting books every week.
The 41-year-old comedian is set welcome his first child into the world imminently with his fiancée Laura Gallacher and is so determined to start fatherhood off on the right foot that he’s been soaking up valuable information from baby guides.
Speaking on ‘The Jonathan Ross Show’, which will air on Saturday (15.10.16), he said: "I read a different book every week and I read one on preparation for fatherhood to mentally prepare me for it. I don’t know that it has prepared me for it.
"I’ve painted the room, I’ve done the things that you’re supposed to do, I’ve accepted the idea that that person will be more important than me, ‘Jesus Three’ I’m thinking of calling him or her, we don’t know the gender. I may not even ever impose a gender upon it, let the child grow up and be the whatever the hell it is, never tell it there is such a concept."
Russell – who has slept with a plethora of women and was even treated for a sex addiction at one point – may have many years of sleepless nights and a lifetime of worrying for his child, but he believes becoming a parent has actually made him calmer.
He explained: "With this new domestic life with the two cats, the 13 chickens, the dog and the soon-to-come child there is a necessary serenity and I suppose.
"Being serious, if I dare for a moment, having been famous for a decade … I’ve kind of realised that you have to have some sort of transcendent inner serenity and some genuine earthed things in your life otherwise you’ll go mental.
"Obviously what I think is I am unable to anticipate it but I just want to be present for it and be completely loving and encouraging to this human being and to see what it does."
And the long-haired actor proved how much he has changed when he popped the question to Laura earlier this year.
He said of his thoughtful proposal: "I cried at my own beauty. You know when you think, ‘I’m being so nice now, Oh God I think I’m going to cry’ because you’re impressed with how nice you are … I properly planned it and put proper ideas into it and made it all nice and did like a surprise party for her and her mum helped me to organise it, get her on side!"
Russell wed Katy Perry in 2010 but their marriage didn’t last long as the funny man filed for a divorce, citing irreconcilable differences, just over a year later. Their divorce was finalised in July 2012.
‘The Jonathan Ross Show’ will air on October 15 at 10pm on ITV.
Russell Brand reading parenting books
