Always controversial, even before his conviction for sexual offences, Russell Brand was heading out to the United States when we caught up with him outside the Virgin Atlantic lounge.
He had just been reprimanded and dropped by the BBC after salacious comments on air.
Asked whether the treatment was fair, he replied “I have only love”.
But years later after a best-selling autobiography, innumerable successful TV and film appearances, he appeared in the dock convicted of rape and other sexual offences.
A future behind bars now beckoned.